Seattle has long been a soccer-loving city. From 1974 to 1983, the Seattle Sounders played in the North American Soccer League (NASL), the US and Canada’s first professional men’s soccer league. It helped Seattle grow one of the largest fan bases for professional men’s soccer in the entire country.
Today, the Sounders consistently manage to draw some of the highest average attendance numbers in Major League Soccer, despite being a city of fewer than one million residents. In 2024, it averaged more than 30,000 supporters at home games. One of the best sights on game day is the Match March, where thousands of supporters meet at Occidental Park in Pioneer Square and walk towards the stadium together.