The World Cup atmosphere in Seattle has been “one of the best at the tournament” as “few cities experienced the full scope of the world’s largest sporting event, on and off the field,” like Seattle, according to Andy Yamashita of the SEATTLE TIMES. Seattle served as the backdrop for six games while “welcoming teams and fans from eight countries.” A total of 401,400 fans attended the games at Seattle Stadium and “tens of thousands more followed along at designated watch parties.” All six of the Seattle games were “entertaining” and “played with real stakes.” When hosting the USMNT, it has “only been rivaled by the passionate El Tri fans at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.” Five of the matches were sellouts and the other was “just 150 fans short” (SEATTLE TIMES, 7/7). In Tacoma, Gregg Bell wrote Seattle was “absolutely enraptured by the world’s biggest sporting event.” Bell: “So thrilling over six matches/civic matches that international soccer experts have been saying the World Cup final should be in Seattle” instead of N.Y. N.J. Stadium (Tacoma NEWS-TRIBUNE, 7/6).
PARTY IN THE USA: In Seattle, Mike Vorel writes Monday’s Belgium-U.S. Round of 16 match “was the biggest, most American sports party Seattle has ever seen.” Vorel: “Bigger, by scale, than NFC Championship Games and Super Bowl parades. Bigger, by ratings, than … the 2025 American League Championship Series.” Vorel: “I’ll remember the party most of all. The three-week, six-match celebration. The captivating carnival that came to town. This beautiful, flawed, frustrating, exhilarating, unifying, dividing, hopeful, helplessly human thing” (SEATTLE TIMES, 7/7).
