MLS to add franchise in Seattle

Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber will be in Seattle on Tuesday, to announce that city will receive an expansion franchise to begin play potentially in the 2009 season.  The Seattle team will be owned by Hollywood movie studio executive Joe Roth, Seattle Sounders managing partner Adrian Hanauer and Vulcan Sports and Entertainment, the owner of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.

Full details on the team, including its home stadium, the club name and logo and team staff, will be unveiled at a Tuesday press conference in Seattle.  Seattle has a storied soccer tradition as it was home to the Seattle Sounders of the North American Soccer League from 1974 until 1983. The city is currently home to the Seattle Sounders of the USL First Division. The Sounders have been crowned champions of the USL First Division two of the past three years including 2007, and have produced MLS players such as Houston's Brian Ching and Chivas USA's Maykel Galindo.

Seattle will be the 15th team in Major League Soccer, after the addition of the San Jose Earthquakes, which will begin play in 2008, the league's 13th season.  MLS plans to expand to 16 teams by 2010 and could feature as many as 18 clubs by 2012. Expansion conversations continue with more than a dozen communities throughout the United States and Canada. Commissioner Garber will discuss each market at his year-end state of the league address on November 16 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

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