Seattle Soccer: Drew Carey Brings Fans Into the Game

Drew Carey is best known as the funny host of TV's 'The Price Is Right.' But in Seattle, he plays a different role — part-owner of the Seattle Sounders soccer team. Carey has a bold idea: give fans real power over how the team is run. He believes that when fans feel like they truly belong, the whole sport grows stronger.

On a warm April evening, Carey walked into a crowded bar full of Sounders fans two hours before game time. Everyone wore blue and green — the team's colors. Fans cheered when they saw him and gave him all kinds of advice about players and the marching band. Most team owners would have avoided a loud, packed bar, but Carey wanted to hear what the fans had to say.

Carey had not always loved soccer. As a teenager, he watched the old North American Soccer League rise and fall. When it shut down in 1984, he barely noticed. For years, he believed that soccer in America was a sport that could never really succeed.

Everything changed at the 2006 World Cup. Carey had taken up sports photography as a hobby and chose soccer because it got so little attention. He got good enough that a news wire service hired him to photograph the tournament. What he witnessed in Germany completely changed his mind about the sport.

Carey had always heard that soccer was not physical or competitive. At the World Cup, he saw the opposite — players throwing elbows and fighting hard for every single ball. He compared it to battling for rebounds against a star like LeBron James. 'I was hooked!' he said, and he meant it.

After the World Cup, Carey wanted to own part of a soccer team. He arranged a meeting with Joe Roth, the lead owner of the soon-to-launch Seattle Sounders. Carey arrived with a heavily bandaged wrist from an accident on the set of his TV show. Roth wanted to rush him to a hospital, but Carey only cared about talking soccer.

Carey told Roth he was interested — but he had two conditions. The first was a marching band, inspired by his own time in his high school band. The second was far bigger: fans had to be given a real say in how the team was run, the way fans of famous European clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid can vote for team leaders.

Roth was unsure at first, but Carey pushed for a compromise. They agreed that the team's season ticket holders could vote every four years on whether to keep the general manager — the person who runs team operations. If fans were angry enough, they could even call for a special vote once a year. Carey argued that letting fans vote would help the team make tough decisions. Roth agreed, and the deal was done.

The results have been impressive. The Sounders sold out all 15 of their home games in their first season, leading all of Major League Soccer in attendance. Booster clubs formed not just in Seattle, but in Los Angeles and Denver too. Fans voted on the team's name, helped design the pregame parade, and even pushed to move the marching band to a better location inside the stadium.

Not everyone agrees that fan-run teams are a smart idea. Sports business expert David Carter warned that fans follow their emotions rather than logic and that the Sounders must be careful not to let fan input turn things into a circus. Carey understands the concern but believes the reward is worth the risk. He compares the idea to democracy — Americans already vote for judges they have never met, so voting on a team's general manager seems reasonable.

Inside the stadium on game night, Carey watched from his box seat, calm one moment and leaping to his feet the next. The Sounders beat the San Jose Earthquakes 2–0. As blue and green confetti filled the air and fans sang together, Carey looked around in wonder. 'Look at this,' he said. 'This is what American soccer can be.'