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Throughout their history, the Emerald City Supporters have taken great pride in helping the Seattle Sounders travel. Almost every away game the Sounders have played has shown a significant contingent of their fans, sometimes in the hundreds outside of trips to Portland and Vancouver. For their two trips to Toronto for the MLS Cup, away support ticked four-digit.
With travel restrictions now lifted and Texas only a relatively short flight away, the Sounders’ trip to Austin FC on July 22nd promised a major tour company.
However, ECS will not be there – at least not organized.
The Sounders’ largest group of supporters announced on Tuesday they would be boycotting the game after learning that tickets would cost “from $ 70”. That seems to be in line with what Austin accuses other support groups.
“We know many of you were excited to go to Austin. We know this is likely to be disappointing for many of you, ”wrote ECS on her blog. “We also know that no matter which club you support, we will never stop fighting for affordable tickets.”
To put those prices in context, ECS noted that for a game against the San Jose Earthquakes, which was also the first sporting event at Levi’s Stadium, they had charged a maximum of $ 53 (including fees) for regular season tickets . ECS boycotted this game too.
Since then, annual trips to Portland have traditionally been the most expensive, most recently costing $ 49 in 2019. The average cost of away tickets never exceeded $ 35 or less than half what Austin FC charged.
In fact, ECS was only asked to pay more than that game for the 2017 MLS Cup, when tickets to BMO Field cost $ 99. A year earlier, ECS was asked to pay $ 57 for the same tickets. When the Sounders hosted the MLS Cup in 2019, ECS members were able to purchase tickets at Brougham End for around $ 50.
Of course, none of this prevents Sounders fans from buying tickets on the open market, where they seem significantly more expensive. At SeatGeek, Austin FC’s official ticketing partner, most tickets currently cost at least $ 150 each.
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