Seattle World Cup barge gives soccer's global language a waterfront home

EVERETT, Washington, June 8 : Every World Cup is memorable, but Seattle's two pro soccer clubs - the Sounders and the Reign - hope they have created an unforgettable waterfront venue for fans to watch games and for kids to play: a pierside barge with a mini soccer pitch, a huge video screen and amenities.

The barge commemorates a campaign by the RAVE Foundation, the clubs' charitable arm, to build 52 mini soccer pitches in communities around Washington state where children had nowhere to play.

"If you give a child a ball, and a place to use that, in (a) community that maybe doesn't have access to a free park ... it's going to change your community," said Courtney Carter, chief revenue officer of the two clubs.

The World Cup is being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico this year, with a number of matches in Seattle.

About 18 months ago, Sounders and Reign executives "looked around the room at each other...and said, 'How are we going to show up for the World Cup?'" Carter said.

Getting attention amid the World Cup is a bit like shouting into a hurricane. To cut through, they landed on hosting watch parties on a barge, an idea inspired by Puget Sound, the waterway connecting Washington's biggest cities, she said.

"What if we put the 52nd pitch on a barge, put a screen at the end of it, and we delivered it to the waterfront of the City of Seattle and said, 'Here's a global game, come celebrate,'" Carter said.

She started calling maritime companies looking to borrow a barge.

The reaction of plenty of people on the other end was "Are you crazy?" she said, "I'm like, 'Maybe.'"

Not Western Towboat, though.

"If it floats, we can move it, and if you have an idea, we can usually make it happen," said Russ Shrewsbury, vice