In a time of nice change, how do you attraction to new followers? In case you’re the Seattle Sounders FC, you allow them to come at no cost.
The Sounders are at a turning level. The , which the Sounders are collaborating in and internet hosting, presents an opportunity to revitalize the staff after years of declining attendance (regardless of surrounding it). And subsequent summer time, Seattle may also be a number metropolis for the 2026 World Cup, one other big alternative to faucet into the soccer craze.
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And the membership is tapping in: In February, the Sounders introduced their First Match On Us promotion, a novel method to bringing in new followers. It presents free tickets — no cost, no charges, no placing in your bank card to allow them to cost you later — to those that have by no means been to a Sounders match earlier than.
In an interview with Yahoo Sports activities, Ashley Fosberg, the Sounders’ chief impression and fan engagement officer, stated that making the tickets utterly free was the core of the promotion.
“We didn’t wish to have any obstacles. If ‘it’s free, however,’ or ‘it’s not free, come attempt us and pay somewhat bit,’ it doesn’t have the identical resonance, it doesn’t draw,” Fosberg stated. “We wish them to return pattern us.”
However on the similar time, Fosberg stated, they needed the promotion to return with “no expectations.”
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“We’re actually clear about that. We didn’t need it to return with any circumstances,” she added.
Kaitlin Bailey, the Sounders’ vice chairman of enterprise technique and analytics, instructed Yahoo Sports activities that it was one thing of an funding in future followers.
“Once we have been trying on the construct of this system, we actually needed ‘free’ to imply ‘free,’” Bailey stated. “It’s a value we have been prepared to incur as a membership, in our dedication to rising the game in Seattle, and our dedication to the idea that for those who come expertise it, you’ll come again.”
Although it’s nonetheless comparatively early, each Fosberg and Bailey stated that this system has been a fantastic success thus far. Beginning with the staff’s sport on March 22, round 1,000 new followers have come to every of the Sounders’ house matches by way of the First Match on Us program. The membership additionally exceeded its objective of 10,000 RSVPs throughout the first month of the season.
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(Notably, the promotion is likely to be catching on all through MLS: On Thursday, Nashville SC a really related program, “Locals Solely,” that permits native residents to attend their first match freed from cost.)
For the Sounders, it’s an funding that the membership is prepared to make shifting ahead as properly: Bailey stated that the membership has dedicated to persevering with this system by way of 2026.
“It was kind of our dedication, each to our [season ticket] members and to the game, to have this entry level,” Bailey stated. “We actually consider that for those who come and really feel what the power of a Sounders matchday is, that you just’re gonna fall in love with it.”
Seattle Sounders FC followers cheers in the course of the MLS match in opposition to the San Diego FC at Lumen Area on Could 28, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Picture by Soobum Im/Getty Pictures)
(Soobum Im by way of Getty Pictures)’A large alternative for progress’
Heading into the following two summers, Seattle is in an extremely distinctive place. The Sounders are considered one of three MLS groups collaborating within the Membership World Cup, and considered one of solely two (together with Inter Miami) that can also be internet hosting the membership’s matches. Seattle and Miami are each host cities for the 2026 World Cup, too.
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“It’s a chance proper in our lap,” Fosberg stated.
These two main summers come at an opportune time for the Sounders, who’re making an attempt to rebuild their fan base amid declining attendance. For practically a decade, Seattle boasted one of the best attendance in MLS: Common attendance peaked within the 40,000s all through the 2010s, a span when the Sounders received the MLS Supporters’ Protect and two MLS Cups.
However after the COVID-19 pandemic, these numbers began to slide. Final season, the Sounders’ common attendance dropped to 30,754, per — nonetheless bigger than most groups in MLS, however a notable distinction from a decade in the past. In Seattle’s Lumen Area, a stadium that additionally hosts the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and might maintain as much as 68,740 followers, that shrinking crowd can look particularly stark.
“We’ve a problem: We play in an NFL stadium. And we wish to make it possible for the ambiance is electrical nonetheless,” Bailey stated. “So we noticed this as a chance each to indicate the accessibility of the sport, and likewise deliver again the expertise that we had after we first entered the league.”
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The membership held focus teams with season-ticket holders, per Bailey. From these classes, the Sounders decided that followers needed to refill the stadiums, whereas additionally offering an entry level for brand new followers.
The Membership World Cup will function a part of that chance, although the Sounders aren’t projected to make it previous the group stage. Bailey admitted that the Sounders don’t have plenty of management over the match and that FIFA was working ticket gross sales, amongst different issues. (Within the week main as much as the primary sport in Seattle, FIFA and supplied partial refunds to some ticket holders.)
In consequence, Bailey clarified that the membership isn’t pondering of these two tournaments as the top level of this promotion.
“I don’t suppose that we checked out this program because the roadmap with the end line as Membership World Cup, or World Cup,” Bailey stated. “By opening the aperture a bit to achieve extra followers throughout these key moments is vitally essential for the enterprise, but additionally I believe that the markers of Membership World Cup and World Cup weren’t the idea of doing this system.”
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However each Fosberg and Bailey famous that the timing was additionally essential, because the World Cup usually works as an entry level into an curiosity in soccer as an entire.
“We all know that viewership, ticket gross sales, attendance go up in World Cup years. Folks get hooked on the game,” Fosberg stated. “Whether or not it’s on TV, or they [are] at a neighborhood watch social gathering, at a pub watch social gathering, or in the event that they’re fortunate sufficient to go to a match, you’ll be able to’t assist however expertise soccer within the international fever of soccer throughout a World Cup yr. So that’s our duty to make it possible for interprets to the native staff.
“I do know that each one MLS groups have the identical mindset: It’s a second to seize, to only share and develop the love of the game,” she added.
Seattle Sounders wave to followers after the MLS match between the Seattle Sounders and the St. Louis Metropolis at Lumen Area on Could 03, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Picture by Ryan Solar/Getty Pictures)
(Ryan Solar by way of Getty Pictures)’A really various and diversified group’
There hasn’t been fairly sufficient time to do a full evaluation, however Fosberg and Bailey stated that they’ve an thought of who’s making the most of the promotion.
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“Visually, anecdotally, it’s everywhere in the board. Younger, outdated, children, no children, teams, singles,” Fosberg stated. “It’s a really various and diversified group, which is precisely good for soccer.”
That was obvious in talking to First Match On Us followers on the Sounders’ match in opposition to San Diego FC on Could 28. The followers, marked by their inexperienced and black scarves (given out at no cost as a part of the promotion), have been in every single place on the concourse, scattered all through the gang on the unseasonably heat, oddly early 5:30 p.m. match. And so they all had totally different causes for being there.
Some followers have been longtime Seattle residents, others new to town, and even some who have been visiting for the week. Some have been soccer followers, however have been loyal to different groups; some performed soccer, some didn’t care a lot for the game in any respect. Some have been Sounders followers, however hadn’t seen the video games in individual.
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One couple, Andrea and Kevin S., who requested that their final title not be used, took the tickets as half of a bigger quest to check out occasions within the Seattle space. Andrea, a latest transplant, stated she needed to do “all of the experiences” town needed to supply.
“The truth that it was a complimentary ticket was attractive,” Andrea stated.
A number of of them needed to see a lot of objectives, or a Sounders win. (Seattle would go on to beat San Diego, 1-0.) However most simply needed to be there to check out, within the phrases of 1 fan, “the stadium’s power.” And, in fact, as a result of it was free.
“We’re at all times searching for a superb deal,” stated Carly Hanson, a fan on the concourse together with her boyfriend Kyle Sneddon.
Scarves up by Seattle Sounders followers in the beginning of an MLS match between the Seattle Sounders FC and Nashville SC on April 19, 2025 at Lumen Area in Seattle, WA. (Picture by Jeff Halstead/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Pictures)
(Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Pictures)The matchday expertise
Along with the concept of First Match On Us, it changed into a bigger dialog about making a matchday expertise for a brand new attendee.
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“We needed to grab the second that we’re in,” Fosberg stated. “We knew that we had room to develop, and so the concept was generated out of that. It was kind of a what-if second: What if we invited individuals who had by no means been earlier than to return attempt us out? And what if we hosted them? And what sort of expertise would we wish them to have, and the way can we interact them in finally being a Sounders fan and a soccer fan? In order that was the origin story of First Match On Us.”
To make video games extra welcoming for brand new followers, the Sounders adjusted some key facets of the in-game expertise. A pregame video explains a few of the fundamental guidelines of soccer. A ferry horn alerts to followers when it’s time to take their seats. Textual content scrolls throughout the display to inform followers when and what to yell.
When selecting their tickets, followers get an opportunity to request their seats primarily based on what’s obtainable and what sort of sport they’re hoping for: an opportunity to take a seat (or, extra realistically, stand) within the Emerald Metropolis Supporters’ part, a family-friendly seat, or any of one of the best obtainable seating.
After which there’s the scarves, that are handed out to First Match On Us followers forward of the sport. Crew scarves, a long-time soccer custom that started in Europe, are a key a part of any soccer fan base. The Sounders, like many groups, have a “scarves up” name in the beginning of the match; the free scarves enable new followers to take part with out having to pay $35 for a brand new scarf.
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“I believe we actually really feel like this can be a full fan journey to expertise, and I believe that’s perhaps the differentiator, [rather] than throwing a ticket your means and hoping for one of the best,” Bailey stated. “I believe that’s what we’re most pleased with.”
The hope with all of that is to ship First Match On Us followers again out of the stadium with plans to return. Per Bailey, the Sounders’ objective is to assist flip a first-time attendee right into a fan with just a few curated strikes.
“There’s research that say ways in which drive fandom are: You attend a match, you purchase a equipment, you watch the staff on TV, you realize who a few of the star gamers are. And so for us, we then can say, ‘Alright you’ve attended a match. What are another indicators of fandom that we may help drive?’” Bailey stated. “How can we get you to look at the following match, if it’s an away match? And so we’ve partnered with MLS Season Go to supply a one-month free trial, so as to proceed to look at the staff on TV. After which we’re exploring merch reductions that comply with as properly.
“That’s kind of the following step within the journey, is ‘Sure, we wish you to return again,’” she continued, “but additionally, ‘how can we proceed to interact that fandom?’”
Seattle Sounders followers maintain up their scarves earlier than the sport in opposition to the Los Angeles FC at Lumen Area on March 8, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Picture by Steph Chambers/Getty Pictures)
(Steph Chambers by way of Getty Pictures)Success
It’s nonetheless comparatively early within the course of, however Fosberg and Bailey each say that the venture has been an enormous success in a brief time period. With the MLS season simply over midway carried out, the Sounders have welcomed roughly 6,000 new followers throughout six house video games.
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“We’re actually pleased with how the market has responded — that there’s curiosity, that there’s engagement. That is exceeding expectations and giving us plenty of hope for the way we proceed to deliver followers in,” Bailey stated.
Fosberg stated that, along with exceeding their objective for RSVPs, they’ve additionally had nice success with the individuals who present up after claiming their tickets.
“Once you give a comp ticket, generally you don’t anticipate as many as you give out to attend. On this case, we’re seeing 70-80% present fee, which is absolutely excessive,” Fosberg stated. “It’s reaching the appropriate folks, we’re truly speaking the appropriate means to verify they wanna come. In order that’s actually encouraging.”
The membership plans to do extra evaluation and market analysis on the contributors over the summer time. Per Bailey, retention shall be “a key metric” going ahead — “not simply who got here within the constructing, however who got here again,” she stated.
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Although the membership is dedicated to working First Match On Us by way of 2026, Bailey hopes the promotion will proceed to develop previous that.
“We actually are it as only the start,” Bailey stated. “It is a multi-year dedication to develop the sport.”
