Seattle, Portland soar in TV ratings for first MLS matchup

SEATTLE, Wa. – A closely played 1-1 tie Saturday at Qwest Field, including a goal by Portland’s “Futty” Danso, and high interest in Portland and Seattle’s firs MLS matchup drove up ESPN ratings in the cities.

Soccer ratings on TV are notoriously squishy. Not only do many fans pack pubs to watch games en masse, but more and more are watching online — both groups going uncounted by conventional Nielsen ratings.

Yet even by that somewhat dulled measurement tool, Seattle and Portland fans are standing out in Major League Soccer — and standing up, at least for the Sounders and Timbers.

Saturday’s 1-1 tie in Seattle, the first MLS game between the old North American Soccer League rivals, drew a 3.0 rating in Seattle/Tacoma and a 2.2 rating in Portland. In the ESPN2 broadcast, no other market registered higher than a .7 rating and the national average was a .2 rating.

For comparison’s sake, the second round of the NBA Playoffs on TNT averaged a 3.0 rating, up 25 percent from a year ago. Nationally, that rating translates into about 6 million viewers.