In just about every imaginable way, the Seattle Sounders’ move to the Longacres property in Renton is going to be a game-changer. When the facility officially opens in early 2024, it will immediately be one of the top training facilities in North American soccer and will mark the first time in their history that the Sounders’ sporting and business sides will be under one roof. There’s even a chance that MLS Next Pro games could be played there as soon as next season.
Within the next 10 years, it should also have a robust community of live-work-play amenities that will be connected to Seattle by an existing rail stop.
Taken together, the area that is currently a suburban office park will be transformed into something that feels far more vibrant and metropolitan.
It might even include a Sounders stadium.
Sounders president Hugh Weber confirmed to Sounder at Heart during a recent interview that the team is at least exploring the possibility of playing its games in a stadium that would be located on the south end of the 158-acre site.
“Lumen Field has been a great home, but having a soccer-centric stadium is always the dream of any premier MLS club,” Weber said. “It’s always something we’re contemplating and thinking about. There’s definitely room on the site. There’s a lot of exploration that has to happen in terms of is it even a thing our fanbase would consider a positive? There’s a lot of work to be done. I’d be remiss and not honest if I said we weren’t thinking about it and how we can solve for it.”
