by Spencer Weinbender
Staff Writer

In April of 2009, Seattle taxpayers will see their money put to use and the dreams of soccer fans across the state will come alive when Major League Soccer (MLS) finally hits Qwest Field.

The hope of forming a MLS soccer team in Seattle has been nearly forgotten since 1997 when voters decided to move ahead with the construction of the all-purpose stadium in South Downtown.

Promised in the initiative was a new stadium for our Seattle Seahawks that in return would accommodate the soon to come MLS soccer team—a wish of the soccer- littered state.

After nearly 10 years of waiting, fans can relax, but not without hope of never waking up from this dream.

Some may be wondering about the soccer team that already exists in Seattle: the Sounders (a semi-pro team). They will be leaving us next year with the knowledge that they were a major contributor in opening the gap for our new MLS team to come into the picture in a successful and sustainable way.

My only qualm is that the average attendance of a MLS soccer game is a mere 16,000 attendants, with a great differential depending on the city and quality of the team.

Just to put this into perspective, the Seahawks estimate that about 60,000 fans attend each of their eight professional football games at Qwest Field each year, while the Sounders draw a mere 4,000 fans to when they are allowed to use the stadium (usually against top-tier MLS teams).

As for the 15th appointed team with only 12 years of existence of the league, Seattle is left with a great deal of room for improvement, considering the 24,500 seats to fill come the beginning of the 2009 season.

About 6,000 season tickets were sold in the first week of the franchise’s announcement, but more is needed for the unnamed team to make a name for itself in the Emerald City.

At $20 a seat, not many sports have a cheaper admission fee. The key is to draw the fans, and having minority owners such as Paul Allen along with newly appointed “The Price Is Right” host Drew Carey, the team is off to a pretty good start.