Seattle Sounders FC promised an announcement of global impact. And while that might have been a bit of an oversell, FC’s announcement of a marketing partnership with Microsoft — most notably a jersey sponsorship with Xbox 360 Live — has turned out to be an annoucement of at least global note.

Here’s my story in The News Tribune (with a couple of very good photos).

Here’s columnist Dave Boling’s take.

Here’s a story from USA Today. A version from The Canadian Press. A mention from Reuters UK. And an AP story carried

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OK, now we’ve seen one Sounders FC jersey. What do you think?

And — while cooling our heels until November when we get to see the rest — what are you still hoping for?

Should that green jersey be complemented with green shorts? Or white? Or blue?

The Sounders wouldn’t even tell me today if that was the home jersey or the road jersey. (They apparently haven’t even decided if there will be an alternate third kit.) But regardless, what would you like the other kit to look like? All white? All blue? White top

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Here’s some of what some of the folks were saying at Qwest Field as Sounders FC revealed their jersey and their jersey sponsor: Xbox 360 Live.

MAJORITY OWNER JOE ROTH

One of the things that is so helpful to me is that I came to this operation with no knowledge. And when you come to something with no knowledge you can make impossibly high standards. So the search for the city ended up in Seattle because it felt like the best place … and so when it came time to decide who to get as our naming

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Random observations:

&bull Dull dull dull. No Landon = no threat.

&bull ESPN = England Soccer Propaganda Network. (Not sure where that comes from; my kid said it to me.) Somebody needs to remind John Harkes where he’s really from.

&bull The Euro-based players clearly have no recent time together and did not click at all. This one is no huge deal or anything, but it is unfortunate that at least a few of them couldn’t show a little spark against a middle-of-the-road collection of huffers and puffers like Ing-er-land.

Thoughts?

As indicated in the post below, Seattle Sounders FC today announced Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Live as its jersey sponsor. The agreement runs for five years. Neither the Sounders nor Microsoft would discuss financial terms.

The inaugural FC kits were not revealed, and won’t be until November. All we saw today was their lime green jersey, with the FC crest on the upper left chest and the words Xbox 360 LIVE in white lettering across the chest below. There are the familiar three thin addidas white stripes across both shoulders, an MLS patch on one sleeve and a U.S. flag

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft is paying $4 million per season over five seasons to promote its Xbox 360 LIVE game system on the Seattle Sounders FC soccer jersey.

The Major League Soccer franchise has called a media event at 11:30 this morning to “announce a partnership that will have global impact.”

Majority owner Joe Roth, general manager Adrian Hanauer and Tod Leiweke of Paul Allen’s Vulcan Sports & Entertainment will be there.

So will The News Tribune, and we’ll report in after the press conference.

The Tacoma Tide is moving the kickoff of its Saturday match against the Spokane Spiders to 2:05 p.m. at Curtis High School.

The game was moved from the evening to avoid a conflict with the Brazil vs Canada match at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Qwest Field.

… apparently will be officially unveiled Wednesday.

However, a shot apparently showing part of the jersey was briefly displayed, and has since been removed from the www.goalseattle.com Web site.

If what the photo showed was correct, then I am pleased in at least one of my preferences: that the Sounders use green — not blue — as their primary color. Major League Soccer is full of teams using various shades of blue as their primary color. Rather than being just one more, I like the idea of FC joining the go-it-aloners of MLS, who are instantly recognizable

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