Whether you attend games in the stadium, tune in to live broadcasts or just watch post-match highlight videos on YouTube, professional sports collectively are a very fun part of our culture to engage with.

Seattle is home to several professional sports teams and while each are interesting in their own ways, the most exciting local professional sports franchise right now is the Seattle Sounders FC for a variety of reasons.

History of success

It may be easy to say that the Kraken, Seattle’s new NHL hockey team, is the most exciting team in Seattle because they are the newest addition to Seattle’s lineup of pro sports franchises.

The problem is that while new things are fun, sports fans typically like to see their team win and the Kraken have struggled to do so. The current NHL standings show the Kraken in last place with six fewer wins than the next-best team.

Speaking of teams that struggle to win, the Mariners are currently the only team in MLB who haven’t appeared in a World Series and it has been over 20 years since the last time the Mariners even made it to the postseason.

The Sounders, on the other hand, have proven that they can consistently win games in both the regular season and the playoffs. In 2014, the Sounders won the MLS Supporters’ Shield, which is given to the team with the best record at the end of the season.

Additionally, the Sounders have never missed the playoffs in their 13 year history in the MLS. In those 13 playoff appearances, the Sounders have made four MLS Cup finals appearances, two of which resulted in championship victories. That’s in addition to the Sounders’ four U.S. Open Cup titles.

Stadium atmosphere

The Seattle Storm may have won more championships than the Sounders with four WNBA finals victories, but what the Storm have in success, they lack in home game atmosphere. This is partially because the Storm draws in far fewer fans than the Sounders do.

According to a Seattle Times article, the Storm had an average attendance of 8,100 fans during the 2018 season. An article on soccerstadiumdigest.com shows that the Sounders averaged around 40,000 fans at their home games during the same year.

It’s not just numbers that make the Sounders’ crowd exciting to take part in though. A section of fans called the Emerald City Supporters leads chants and songs throughout the entirety of the game, flags and banners are flown in the stands and the crowd roar during goal celebrations or the “boom boom clap” tradition is enough to send chills down your spine.

Current trajectory

While the Seahawks are another Seattle team who has claimed a title and hosts a famously loud group of fans, the Seahawks are currently not looking as promising moving forward as the Sounders are.

If you look at the Seahawks last few seasons though, you see a downward trend. In 2019, the Seahawks made the playoffs but were knocked out in the second round, the following season saw the Seahawks bow out in the first round of the postseason, and they failed to make the playoffs in their most recent year with star quarterback Russell Wilson missing games due to injury for the first time in his career.

The Sounders recent seasons show a pedigree of success. All the Sounders’ MLS Cup appearances have come in the last six years. Additionally, five current Sounders players have been called up to their respective countries’ national teams in the past year.

If nothing else, the Sounders are exciting to watch right now because their season has just started with their first regular season game having taken place on Sunday, Feb. 27. Now is a great time to start watching the Sounders and see what excitement is to come in their 2022 season.

Photo by SounderBruce/CC BY 4.0