Call it the Clint Dempsey Effect; call it the Pacific Northwest is Crazy; but whatever you decide to call it, it's going to be loud.
Through the group's official Twitter account on Tuesday, the Emerald City Supporters spilled the beans that CenturyLink Field has already reached absolute sell-out levels for Clint Dempsey's home debut, which is of course the always highly anticipated Cascadia Cup clash between the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers (August 25, 10 pm ET, ESPN2).
The largest regular season standalone crowd in MLS history (69,255, LA Galaxy vs NY/NJ MetroStars, April 13, 1996) will be just out of the Sounders' reach, unless they decide to sell standing room only tickets and somehow work another 2,500 fans into the building. They will, however, surpass the second all-time largest standalone crowd in league history (66,452 for Sounders-Timbers last October).
Oh, and if you're thinking about snagging some primo seats off the second-hand ticket market, bring all your pennies.
As if Timbers owner Merritt Paulson needed a renewal of disdain and desire to get one over on Seattle, the Dempsey signing has only given new life and boost to those emotions.
Only one small problem with all this hype for Sounders-Timbers on August 25: Today is August 6, the game is still 19 days away. Pace yourselves, folks.
