‘That’s nonsense’: Former Sounders announcer calls Seattle ‘a bona fide soccer hotbed’ despite reports of fewer World Cup visitors

Seattle is the only U.S. World Cup host city seeing fewer travelers flying in, according to Bloomberg. Online flight bookings for Seattle are down 21% from the same time last year, compared to New York, which saw a 7% increase, and Houston, which saw an 11% increase.

But former Seattle Sounders announcer Ross Fletcher dismissed the numbers as “nonsense” on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

“That’s just relative. That’s nonsense,” he said. “Seattle is a soccer city. It might be traveling fans that are coming in.”

Fletcher said the teams playing in Seattle, such as Egypt, Iran, and Belgium, don’t bring the massive traveling fan bases that other matchups do. He pointed to Scotland, which hadn’t been to a World Cup in 28 years, and packed Boston with supporters.

“Half of Glasgow is now in Boston,” Fletcher said.

Why Seattle earned a USA World Cup match

With Team USA set to take on Australia in Seattle on Friday, Fletcher made the case for why the city belongs on the World Cup stage.

“When I moved here in 2012, the Sounders were getting 40,000 fans a game. No one else in Major League Soccer was touching that,” Fletcher said. “This is a bona fide soccer hotbed in the United States, and you’ve always got a fervent crowd.”

Fletcher said former U.S. soccer star Clint Dempsey joined the Sounders from a Premier League team in part because Seattle’s atmosphere was the closest thing to a European soccer experience in the U.S.

“He came and played a U.S. game against Panama in Lumen Field, whatever it was called those days, and he said, ‘Oh my, this feels like a proper European soccer experience here in Seattle. I’ve never experienced that vibe playing in the U.S.’ And that’s an indication of why we got the team here,” he said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3