I've always thought one of the small-but-significant tests regarding how seriously a community treats its soccer team is whether or not American football lines are allowed to mar the soccer pitch.

If that's a fair test, then there is good news ahead for Sounders FC fans. I recently spent some time with Gary Wright, who will be in charge of Seattle's new MLS team from the business side. And he sounds like he personally -- and the Sounders and Seahawks organizationally -- are determined to have the soccer team play on a pristine pitch.

"That is a definite thing that we are striving to make sure that does not happen," Wright said of football lines on the soccer field. "It has challenges, but that is one of the things that we’re working on. … That’s my preference, and what’s really nice is Tim Ruskell on the Seahawks football side: That was the first thing he said: 'You can’t play with our football lines on there. We have to make sure that it’s done right.'

"Well for a football guy to say you’ve got to make sure that it’s done right, that’s pretty neat and pretty cool. Our goal seriously is to never play a game with football lines on it. I would hate to see that happen. I’m as fervent about that as any longtime soccer person could be."

Wright admits that the challenge will increase from August to October, when the seasons overlap. The technology for removing the markings from FieldTurf isn't yet perfect ... especially for thicker lines or colored items like logos.

However, Wright had some very interesting things to say about future technology that could solve this problem entirely. And in the meanwhile, it's great to see that they're taking the issue as seriously as FC fans are likely to.