Sounders Insider

Updates on news, views and developments of the South Sound soccer scene.

Contributors:

Don Ruiz joined The News Tribune in 1988 and has been covering sports since 1999. He is a long-time recreational soccer player and has covered the 1999 Women's World Cup championship game and a variety of international, national and local soccer matches. E-mail Don.

Jon Billings is the director of communications for the Tacoma Tide. He'll be providing news, notes and updates on the Tide. E-mail Jon.

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The News Tribune's soccer blog
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Posted by Don Ruiz @ 08:07:48 am

The roaring marketing success of the "Sounders" brand's move from NASL to A-League to USL to MLS makes it hard to imagine anything other than Vancouver being the Whitecaps and Portland being the Timbers.

However, the expansion annoucement made no mention of the Whitecaps name -- the B.C. Republic, anyone? -- so speculation continues.

Here's a quick overview.

Meanwhile, an odd little Twilight Zone question we'll never really know the answer to: If you changed nothing but the name, would Seattle Alliance FC have drawn two equal sellout, scarf-waving crowds to Qwest Field by now? Or was the goodwill associated with the Sounders name a key part of Seattle's success story?