D.C. United and Seattle Sounders FC will face off on Wednesday in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (Fox Soccer Channel, 7:30 pm ET). For over a month preceding the game, D.C. United president Kevin Payne and Seattle Sounders general manager Adrian Hanauer have increased the stakes off the field with a war of words. After the U.S. Soccer Federation awarded the bid to D.C., Hanauer took issue with the bidding process.
"I do still feel like the bidding process could be more transparent and better understood by fans, owners, general managers," Hanauer said. "Now, it's purely financial. I don't know if that's the best way to [go], especially if you want a major tournament. There are other ways to do it. You can do a draw, like they do for other major tournaments around the world." Hanauer felt Seattle had played tougher competition throughout the tournament and that a game at Qwest Field would attract a far larger crowd than any D.C. might attract.
Payne took offense to Hanauer's criticisms. "We participated in the process, and we won," Payne said last week. "I was a little offended that because I am on the board of the U.S. Soccer Federation, that my team was shown favoritism." Payne says he expects a crowd of 15,000 to 20,000. The club drew 8,212 fans for last year's Open Cup final, a win over Charleston of the USL First Division.
D.C. United has used the verbal tussle between the two executives to market the game. For example, the club placed an open letter in local newspapers declaring that D.C. fans set the standard for support in the league and that Sounders FC and its fans didn't think D.C. deserved to host. "If our little public spat helped sell a single ticket, then good for the game. Good for U.S. Open Cup, D.C. United, Sounders FC, good for MLS," Hanauer said. "If I have to push the envelope publicly and in the media to help sell tickets, then I'll do it again."