Sounders Insider

Almost half of MLS clubs share markets with pro football, baseball, basketball and hockey

Picking up on the post below …

If Seattle lands NBA and NHL franchises, it would join roughly half (remembering two MLS teams in LA, and depending on how you do the counting) of the MLS markets in hosting the four other major-league sports:

Here’s how the other MLS markets share their territory:

Four other major pro sports:
Chicago: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL
Colorado: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL
Washington DC: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL
Dallas: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL
New England: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL
New York: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL
Philadelphia:

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Estrada, Johansson, Burch draw praise; No. 2 GK race unsettled

The Sounders fly off today for Florida, so I’m not sure we’ll be getting any club news today.

However, here are a few interesting thoughts from coach Sigi Schmid, left over from the Friday media session:

Coach Sigi Schmid

On if the rookies have to adjust from being on the college schedule) “It’s always a little more difficult because they get in their rhythm of the seasons that they’ve had in college. So now you’ve got guys that are in here, [who], by the time we get back from Florida they’re about seven games into their regular season at that …

GM says Sounders would need to “rise to the occasion” of NBA and NHL coming to Seattle

With rumors of a new arena in Sodo, and the potential re-entry of the NHL and an NHL team into the market, we asked general manager Adrian Hanauer today what two new major sports teams in town might mean to the Sounders.

“I don’t know,” he said. “But thankfully, it’s not in my hands. Generally as a Seattle guy, anything that improves the quality of life in the region, the development in the city, I’m in favor of. And if there’s competition, we just have to rise to the occasion and be good competitors and good partners.”

Hanauer was asked …

Hanauer/Sigi talk Sounders preseason friendlies

We got to speak to Sounders coach Sigi Schmid and general manager Adrian Hanauer today, for the first time since the Sounders revealed their series of preseason friendlies leading to the start of CONCACAF Champions League and the MLS seasons.

Here’s some of what they had to say:

HANAUER on making the Community Shield a free event:
You know we always like to shake things up and do things a little differently and keep our partners around the league on their toes. We wanted to raise money for our charity partners, and it just seemed like it’s easier …

Catching up on Sounders games/switches/events

There’s been a recent flurry of Sounders news regarding games — newly scheduled games, re-scheduled games — here’s a quick reminder:

*The club leaves Saturday for Florida, where these games await: Monday, February 13 – 1 p.m. Training Game v Orlando City SC; Wednesday, February 15 – 8 a.m. Training Game v Columbus Crew; Thursday, February 16 – 7 a.m. Training Game v U17 U.S. National Team;Sunday, February 19 – 1 p.m. Training Game v Florida Gulf Coast University; Wednesday, February 22 – 4 p.m. Training Game v Atlante FC, Cancun, Mexico

*Jaguares de …

Sounders host Jaguares in Community Shield match

Here’s the news from the club:

The Seattle Sounders FC announced plans for the club’s third annual “Community Shield” match which will take place on Wednesday, February 29 at 7 p.m. on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field. The Sounders FC will face the Jaguares de Chiapas of the Primera División de México in a preseason match. This year’s match will be free of charge but the team is encouraging fans to pay it forward. Donations will be accepted at the gates for the team’s charity partners.

Proceeds from the match will benefit the team’s five community partners: America

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Morning reading: USA-Brazil set; Rapids, Eastern update, Le Toux settles in, Huskies’ pipeline to MLS

Th Sounders have one more day off before returning to practice tomorrow at Starfire and then flying off to Florida on Saturday.

While awaiting local developments, here are a few items of note:

* The USA men’s national team has announced that it will face five-time World Cup champion Brazil in Landover, Md., on May 30. The match will be shown on ESPN2.

* Colorado traded MLS Cup hero Macoumba Kandji to the Houston Dynamo for a conditional draft pick in a move that is seen as opening space for a potential big addition. Click here. (For all …

Date change for Real Salt Lake home game

This just in from the club:

The Seattle Sounders FC announced today that the match versus Real Salt Lake scheduled for July 18 at CenturyLink Field has been moved to Wednesday, October 17. Start time and broadcast information will be announced at a later date.

The Saturday, September 8 Sounders FC match versus Chivas USA will have a start time of 1 p.m.

Schmid looks back to Arizona and ahead to Florida; gives injury update and says more cuts coming

Here are some other highlights from coach Sigi Schmid’s conference call with local media today:

Can you give us an overview on how Arizona went and what’s coming up?)
A: “I think Arizona went well for us. I think we got the work done that we wanted to get done in terms of establishing our fitness base, so I was pleased with that. Part of building fitness is you also have to give guys a little time to recover and so forth, so we trained this morning. It wasn’t a regeneration morning training; it was a regular training session. …

Yesterday’s first XI represents current starting unit

Here is the first lineup coach Sigi Schmid sent onto the pitch yesterday against Vancouver.

Michael Gspurning, Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez, Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez, Fredy Montero, Mike Fucito.

During a conference call today, I asked Schmid if those are the players he likely would have started had it been a meaningful game, say a CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal against Santos Laguna.

“Yeah, I think you could consider that fairly close,” he said. “Obviously there are guys that are pushing: Lamar neagle is pushing to get into that group. Marc Burch …