With a nod to their respective cities’ rich musical traditions, I’ll open with a phrase from the recording industry: Atlanta United and the Seattle Sounders move units.
This Sunday, Lumen Field will host a network-televised Week 6 showcase (4:30 pm ET | FOX, FOX Deportes) of two of MLS’ biggest clubs in terms of sheer scale. With their large fanbases, ambitious spending and deluxe matchday experiences in NFL-sized stadiums, this duo has ranked 1-2 atop the league’s attendance tables – and on some weekends, even the world’s – since the Five Stripes debuted in 2017.
Their star players’ jerseys perennially rank among MLS’ best sellers, and their overall merchandise sales set the pace for their peers. They tend to be picked for national-TV games more often. Their supporters are loud and proud, both in the stands and online, to extents that can be insufferable for counterparts elsewhere.
Other metrics are harder to pin down with certainty, but we know with some confidence that their revenues, operating incomes and estimated values rank at or near the top of the league. Their relevance in their respective local markets reflects that, and it's matched by levels of global awareness that put them in transfer conversations that MLS clubs usually aren’t part of.
These are MLS’ whales, the high rollers that throw the most weight around. And while that doesn’t singularly infuse Sunday’s meeting with the kind of heat found in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs or regional rivalries, it offers an interesting snapshot of the league’s uppermost echelon of scope and ambition.
“We both play in big stadiums; we both have a lot of fan support, although their counts are a little bit higher; on-field success,” said Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer in a Friday media availability. “I'm not so sure we measure ourselves against Atlanta, but there certainly are a ton of comparisons.
“They are a tremendous franchise, I think we're a tremendous franchise. They want to win, we want to win. They've got great players, we've got great players. There's a lot of similarities there.”
The Sounders have lived in rarified air for longer, shifting the paradigm ever since their MLS entry in 2009. Given the previous doubts about their Southern community’s pro soccer bonafides, ATLUTD can claim a similar impact in their short existence, though they enter this occasion at a lower ebb.
The Five Stripes are navigating their way through the dawn of the Gabriel Heinze era, currently missing usual starters Ezequiel Barco, Jurgen Damm and Alan Franco to injury and waiting to see forward Josef Martinez demonstrate his snarling, devastating best after recovering from a torn ACL.
They broke a brief winless slump across league and Concacaf Champions League play last week by edging CF Montréal 1-0 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium via a last-gasp winner from Marcelino Moreno. Heinze’s system and ethos seem well-suited for the identity Atlanta established out of the gates and are seeking to regain, but we’re still waiting to see them hit their stride.
“There are times where you’ve got to be patient, but there is also that killer instinct that we’re still trying to find a little bit as a team,” Atlanta midfielder Emerson Hyndman said this week. “Gabriel has always preached to us that it’s going to take time to become fully aware of exactly everything we’re doing all at the same time.”
Now Atlanta get the biggest test presently available in MLS, visiting a Seattle side that’s established a clear Supporters’ Shield lead with a 5W-0L-1D record and a thumping +11 goal differential despite the absence of stars Nicolas Lodeiro and Jordan Morris. With their blend of depth, star power, tactical versatility and comfort in high tempo, the Sounders are everything Atlanta want to be.
If nothing else, this trans-continental affair is a welcome change of pace for both sides, a less-familiar adversary after months of intra-conference games thanks to regionalized scheduling during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We, as a coaching staff, were kind of excited to get a new opponent. It gave us something to do,” Schmetzer said of Seattle's preparations. “And my expectation for this game is the same – where we go out, we try and dictate tempo to them. We want to be on the front foot, we want to make sure that they understand that this is our home.
“Same as us coaches, [the players] are excited for a different opponent, an Eastern Conference opponent. I think that adds a little bit of spice to the game for sure.”
