The Seattle Sounders entered Major League Soccer as an expansion team in 2009. Since then, the team has arguably become the most successful expansion franchise in the history of pro-sport.
The reason for the Sounders success is simple: their diehard fans.
"It is a fan driven sport," said Gary Wright, Sounders senior vice president of business operations. "The crowd is absolutely electric and people walk away and say, ‘wow that was a great time,' no matter what the score is."
The Sounders draw in more than 30,000 fans to Qwest Field every game. The team even has its own marching band called "The Sounds Wave."
Before every home game fans excitedly gather for "The March to the Match." Fans follow The Sound Wave to Qwest from Occidental Park while cheering for their team.
"I really believe the Pacific Northwest has tremendous a soccer heritage, and soccer fans, and it's not just in Seattle. It's Vancouver. It's Portland," said Wright.
Wright believes Vancouver can learn from Seattle and use its fan base to catapult the Whitecaps into MLS stardom and Sounders players agree.
"The Pacific Northwest is the ideal place for soccer and I think that the success that they've had in Seattle is going to be emulated in these other organizations," said Sounders defender Taylor Graham.
"They've done everything first class from the very first day to today and that's shown in the loyalty of the fans and shown in the organization's loyalty back to them."
There is no doubt the Whitecaps have an enormous opportunity to make Vancouver a soccer city and create the fan environment other MLS organizations have enjoyed.
Vancouver soccer fans, hopefully, won't need to travel to Seattle to experience an overwhelming fan vibe.
The Whitecaps will join MLS next spring and the organization has already seen tremendous support with season ticket deposits. Only time will tell if Vancouver can give Seattle a run for its money by putting fans in the stands.
