Seattle Sounders Create More Seats For Fans

May 15, 2009 6:19 p.m. EST

Seattle, WA (AHN) - Expansion Seattle Sounders FC is set to increase its seating capacity at Qwest Field to 32,000 beginning with the June 28 match vs. the Colorado Rapids.

The green seats in the south end zone of Qwest Field's lower bowl will be removed, making nearly 4,000 more seats available.

It is expected to meet the increasing demand for tickets, sixty-five percent of the expanded seating will go to partial season-ticket packages.

As of Wednesday, about 60,000 seats have been sold for the Chelsea match July 18.

The stadium, which holds 67,000 at full capacity, will have a new configuration the same as the one used for the inaugural Major League Soccer game in March when 32,523 fans attended.

The Sounders will use this configuration when they host friendlies against European sides FC Barcelona Aug. 5 and Chelsea in July.

On July 4, the U.S. national team is set to face Granada in the second match of a double header at Qwest Field in a first-round 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup match.

The first match features Haiti going up against Honduras.