Sounders FC midfielder Alvaro Fernandez made his first appearance for the club Tuesday night in CONCACAF Champions League action. Coming in as a sub in the 64th minute, Fernandez brought an immediate spark to the Seattle offense. Seattle was struggling to deal with the muddy pitch in El Salvador, but Fernandez’ fresh legs helped the Electric Yellows break through the bunkered Metapan defense. After helping Seattle build several attacks, Fernandez put himself into Sounders history with a goal in the 74th minute, giving Seattle a 2-1 aggregate lead. With just one header, the Uruguayan has earned his designated player status for the season.
Fernandez’ goal put the Sounders through to their first CONCACAF Champions League group stage in franchise history. While the extra six matches may hurt the Sounders chances in MLS this season, the prestige brought to the club for making it to the Group Stage is worth far more for both the team and MLS. If the Sounders make it through to the knockout stage, the reputation boost for both MLS and the club will be even bigger.
In the more immediate future, Fernandez’ goal provides three extra home matches for the Sounders. While Champions League matches are not necessarily gate-busters for MLS clubs, Seattle is a different animal. Seattle drew over 17,000 for their preliminary round game against Metapan. Even by regular American sports standards, that is a good number. When three more games of a safe estimate of 15,000 fans are taken into account, the financial benefits of Fernandez’ goal become clear.
A designated player’s first job is to improve the team on the field. That goes without saying. Equally as importantly is the player’s ability to put people in the seats. Usually, all that is expected of a DP is that more people buy single-game and season tickets for the existing games, expanding the fan base. Fernandez has managed to create new games for the Sounders, an immediate boost to revenue. That is what being a DP is really about. How many other MLS DPs can say that?
Adam Soucie is the author of Soccer, Not Football, a blog focused on the American game. If you’ve liked this piece, check out his other work. If you haven’t liked it, he promises there’s better stuff on his site.