The Tukwila-based team will play home games at Starfire Stadium in a league that will bring uniqueness to a crowded sports landscape.
The newest Seattle-area professional sports team knows that muscling its way into a crowded landscape here requires differentiating itself.
And the folks behind the Seattle Seawolves, a Tukwila-based entry in a new seven-team Major League Rugby circuit, say their sport has enough uniqueness to do just that. The team begins play at Starfire Stadium with a regular-season schedule running from April through June.
“We’re aware that we have to put a team out on the field that people will want to go watch,’’ Seawolves coach Tony Healy said Monday at a downtown Seattle news conference introducing the team. “We also have athletes. This is a game for athletes. We’re not playing a game to go and smash into people.’’
The new league is a partnership between the American rugby community and private investors. Teams are owned by the league as a single entity, while each club operator owns a share of the circuit itself.
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Healy noted rugby is a different game from football and will appeal to a different type of fan.
“People make the mistake of sometimes equating football and rugby,’’ he said. “They also make the same mistake of equating table tennis with tennis. There are some similarities, but it’s not the same. So, it’s very much a flow game. It’s an open-style game and if we produce the style of game we’re looking to produce, we think that will sell the game enough.’’
Local Seawolves operator Shane Skinner said the team already has sold out half of the 4,000-seat Starfire venue. “We’re very confident that we’re going to sell out our entire season in our first year,” he added.
That season begins Sunday, April 22, at 5 p.m. against the San Diego Legion at Starfire, one of four home games — all on weekends — the Seawolves will play. After a 10-week regular season, the top four clubs will be in the playoffs.
Other teams in the league are Austin (Texas) Elite Rugby, the Utah Warriors, Glendale (Colo.) Raptors, NOLA (New Orleans) Gold and Houston SaberCats. A New York team will play an exhibition schedule this year and start play in 2019.