In retrospect, Major League Soccer’s demarcation line was drawn in 2009, when Seattle joined the party.
Before that year, the league aimed to fill medium-size stadiums and carve a secondary place in sports markets from coast to coast. From that point on, when the expansion Sounders proved they could pack an NFL venue and weave their rich colors and culture into the fabric of a major metropolitan city, MLS’s ambitions grew.
So in many ways the rave-green celebration that erupted at CenturyLink Field on Sunday afternoon, then along the waterfront and into Pioneer Square and across Puget Sound, was a fitting moment for the club and the league as a whole.