TUKWILA, Wash. – The Seattle Sounders plan on opening up CenturyLink Field to full capacity for four MLS games and an international friendly this season, the club announced Thursday.
The Sounders share CenturyLink with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and close off portions of the upper deck of the 67,000-seat stadium for most of their home games. However, they usually designate several marquee matchups during the season to open the field to its maximum capacity and 2015 will be no different.
Speaking with reporters after Seattle’s Thursday practice, Sounders general manager Adrian Hanauer confirmed that CenturyLink will fully open its upper deck seats for games against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Aug. 1, the Portland Timbers on Aug. 30, the LA Galaxy on Oct. 4 and Real Salt Lake on Oct. 25.
Hanauer also said the team plans on opening up the full upper deck for a friendly between Manchester United and Club America set to take place at CenturyLink on July 17.
“We’re selling a four-game pack. I think we’re calling it four-plus-one,” Hanauer said. “So it’s Portland, it’s Vancouver, it’s Galaxy and RSL at the end of the season, plus Manchester United [vs. Club America].”
Seattle perennially leads MLS in attendance by a wide margin and drew an average of 43,734 fans per game last season. In five games in which they opened up the entire stadium last year, Seattle drew an average of 55,533 fans per game.
Hanauer said that the Sounders want to be even more ambitious with their attendance goals for the full-stadium games this year.
“We’re hoping to average 60,000-plus for those four games,” Hanauer said.
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If the Sounders do manage to approach Hanauer’s 60,000 figure, it becomes a virtual lock that they would set another MLS attendance record. Seattle fell just shy of breaking their own 2013 attendance record last year, marking the first time in franchise history that they didn’t manage to break their own record from the previous season.
The homefield advantage provided for the Sounders at a full-capacity CenturyLink is clear. They went 4-0-1 in their five full-stadium games last year and are a commanding 12-1-3 all-time in games at CenturyLink in which the attendance exceeds 40,000.
