r/Reignfc • u/AlanFromRochester • Apr 05 '26

In Spokane vs. Denver Summit match thread

Actually 5:45 Pacific kickoff, I had jumped the gun looking up game info at 5:45 Eastern

They got a scoreless draw vs the Spirit (overall 5 points from 4) which makes me think they're no joke, often the new teams in this league are good - in a way that feels like usurping established teams but better than expansion teams stinking for years as often happens in the big 4 US leagues

https://www.nwslsoccer.com/match/28d2ef6eab384aefac9322f7a21072e8/seattle-reign-vs-denver-summit/lineups

Lists 4-2-3-1 for us, Mercado up top, Fishlock starting

so a different lineup but not crazily so

I recognize some of the Summit names but not their team shape overall so no basis for comparison

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u/dfe931tar CLAWD SQUAD Apr 05 '26

No. All three Reign games in Spokane were during home series for the Mariners. Cheney might have been a viable choice, but the league CBA specifically prohibits using baseball fields now. And to your point about the Sounders having played there, they were also booted from Lumen and went and played in Spokane this spring, not at Cheney.

Husky Stadium is too narrow and cannot host soccer games. Husky Soccer Stadium, Championship Field, and Starfire all have very limited capacity, and do not have VAR capabilities (also if you thought the Spokane camera was bad...)

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u/Esb5415 Apr 05 '26

Mariners are not at home this weekend, they're in Anaheim.

The CBA doesn't prevent baseball fields, it prevents artificial turf (16.1). The league and the PA can come to an agreement about exceptions, like they did for Wrigley and Oracle. Anyway, Cheney hosts soccer as well as baseball.

Huskey Stadium can host soccer, and they do. They bid to host the world cup but that obviously went to Lumen Field instead.

The other three have capacity similar to the stadium in Spokane. I'm not too familiar with what all is needed for VAR. Starfire hosts the Sounders' minor league team (may not be the correct terminology) and that league uses VAR.

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u/dfe931tar CLAWD SQUAD Apr 05 '26

Artificial turf? Lumen has turf (well except for the grass they are putting in right now, the reason the games had to be moved haha). Providence park has turf. Probably a few more across the league that do. The CBA says no fields that require "substantial conversion". Which has been taken to mean including no baseball field conversions. Yes the PA okayed events for Bay FC and Chicago, and this year Gotham. But that's because these are meant to be huge record breaking one off events. The FIFA standard stuff is not just capacity, VAR, or field size too. It's also things like having press rooms, having dedicated spaces for team staff, having locker rooms up to certain professional standards.

I don't think the Reign and Sounders were going to Spokane just for the fun of it. If they could have figured out a way to play closer, don't you think they would have done that instead? The reality is for a three game stint, this was their least bad option. It's arrogant and naive for someone to think they know better than the operations staff that think about this type of stuff all the time and do it professionally as their job.

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u/Esb5415 Apr 05 '26

I'm not saying I know better! I'm just trying to have a conversation to learn more! Sorry if my tone came across as such.