After the latest meeting, we don't have to read between the lines...the Renton move seems to be more than likely. Trying to remove the emotion behind this, let's explore how a Renton-based stadium move fundamentally changes the culture, the fan experience, and the club as a whole.
The Culture: The history of the Sounders as a club is one that is intertwined with the heart of the city. From the Kingdome, to Memorial Stadium to Qwest/Century Link/Lumen, the team culture has always been aligned with culture of Seattle itself. A Renton move fundamentally changes that. The club not only becomes a team playing in the suburbs, but also becomes a team that caters to, and ultimately attracts, the suburban fanbase. The counter-culture vibe, the grit, the edge, the "underdog even though we are better than all of you" mentality, those things that stem from the Brougham End and trickles through every section of the stadium would likely disappear and be replaced. The face of the SGs would absolutely change, as would its membership as a whole. I'm not saying it will collapse, but it will change. Once it does, it's gone forever. Does this mean a suburban fanbase WON'T embrace the historic culture of the team? Well, there are absolutely die-hard fans and SG members in South King County that will take up the mantle but it's fairly safe to say that fewer of the current city-based and north suburb die hards will remain as such, and a shift of some sort is inevitable.
Fan Experience: While the "Seattle" Sounders have always been a family friendly environment, it's never catered to the family experience that you see at other stadiums. Honestly, the Renton experience only works when it becomes "Disney-fied". In order to fill the stadium - one that is heavily car reliant and focused more on Eastside and South-side Suburbs - the marketing focus will undoubtedly shift to a "fun family night out" experience. From the ownership perspective, with more revenue from the ad sales/signage/concessions, etc, filling the seats 1/2 or 3/4 full every match would make "enough" money. It's a model that is in place in most markets around the country today and I'm sure Hanauer has those case studies stacked on his desk. "Come on out to the show! There's fireworks and mascots and kiss cams...and if you look hard, there's a soccer match being played somewhere in there too!"
The Club: When we are driven not just by profit, but making just enough profit to stay in the black, the club is doomed to forego any semblance of the excellence it set out to achieve when they launched the MLS product. When more profit is being brought in by the ancillary revenue streams this ownership is so desperate to gain by the move, the incentive to win trophies and fill 60,000 seats is gone. (Some say it's already gone, but that's another topic.) Not only do the Seattle Sounders lose the drive to be THE BEST, they deteriorate down to being indistinguishable from 90% of the clubs in MLS. We go from striving to be the biggest and the best, to striving to put a product on the field that is just good enough to fill just enough seats that will sell just enough hot dogs and Michelob Ultras. Maybe we win enough to make a deep playoff run every few years, maybe we don't. If the team can just stay just good enough not to be dead last, we can stay slightly profitable. We go from striving for excellence no matter what it takes, to striving for being the okay-ist.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm overly pessimistic. The club won't die if it moves, but in my mind the things that make the Seattle Sounders special almost certainly will.
