Owner hints at brisk ticket sales for NWSL’s Portland Thorns

While there are plenty of skeptics that a third crack at a women’s soccer league will take root, few doubt that Portland’s entry in the National Women’s Soccer League (Thorns FC) will be able to capitalize on the momentum built by their Major League Soccer counterpart (Timbers FC).

Such are the virtues of being linked to a successful MLS franchise. Because Thorns FC is owned by Merritt Paulson, the new women’s team has been able to bring the Timbers’ resources to bear on their startup. In these early days before teams even have players, most of those effects are seen on marketing.

We saw how Thorns rolled out their logo. Now, courtesy of Paulson’s Twitter account, we’ve started to hear about some of the results:

So we already have over 2k season tix deposits for @ThornsFC...someone help me here, what's most STH of any women's pro US soccer team ever?

—
Merritt Paulson (@MerrittPaulson) December 21, 2012

First, that’s a pretty impressive number. One could note the NWSL would be fine for a long tim if every team emulated that total, but there’s a reason why Portland’s Portland. Even if some of those deposits (which are refundable) aren’t converted into season ticket plans, Thorns FC is going to be an outlier.

But over at Equalizer Soccer, Jeff Kassouf took up Paulson’s challenge, doing some leg work toward answering Paulson’s question. He discovered Thorns are likely to begin the NWSL season with the most season ticket holders in women’s professional soccer history. The only team that’s close is the San Diego Spirit of the old Women’s United Soccer League, but given the three-plus months between now and NWSL’s start, Portland’s likely to lap their mark.

Also, note the tit-for-tat, Seattle versus Portland dynamic forming. On Wednesday, Seattle Reign FC unveiled their logo. Portland announced Cindy Parlow Cone as head coach. On Friday, Laura Harvey’s named to Reign FC’s coaching position. Paulson then reveals some season ticket numbers.

Reign FC may not be the Sounders, but the rivalry’s already brewing. It was inevitable, and in NWSL’s nascent moments, a little one upmanship can’t hurt. Especially when all the news is positive.