The Seattle Reign have had such a successful foray in Spokane, their temporary home away from home, that now, the joke is that the team should consider a permanent move.
Spokane Reign, anyone?
Okay, so that’s never going to happen. But the Reign now have a pair of consecutive wins at One Spokane Stadium. They downed the 2025 NWSL Shield winners Kansas City 3-0 on Wednesday. Then they defeated Racing Louisville 2-1 on Saturday.
The matches were the first of three “home” games for the Reign in Spokane, about 280 miles and a four-plus hour’s drive from Lumen.
“The stadium was nice. I mean, a small, intimate stadium is always different from what we’re used to, because Lumen is obviously a bigger stadium. So I would say we had a pretty good time tonight,” defender Sofia Huerta said after downing the Current.
The reason for the Reign’s Eastern Washington residency is the work currently being done on Lumen for this summer’s World Cup, including the installation of natural grass.
The downtown One Spokane Stadium is home to the Spokane Zephyr of the Gainbridge Super League, as well as a Spokane Velocity of the men’s USL League One. It holds about 5,000 fans, which quite a contrast to the cavernous Lumen Field, which can hold almost 70,000.
“Obviously we’re not really at home, but the fans have been great,” midfielder Sam Meza said. “I think as a collective, we’ve taken the opportunity to still get the job done. Obviously that’s super big. Ultimately, for us, we’re just trying to get three points, wherever it is.”
Seattle goalkeeper Claudia Dickey, who set a new Reign record for clean sheets against the Current, said the smaller venue took some getting used to, both because of the size and the natural grass. She said there were times she was over-hitting the ball.
“I think it’s special. It’s obviously intimate, but like having the fans be so close to the field, I think is something that we need to get used to, in terms of that you don’t have that with some of the stadiums,” Dickey said.
Against Kansas City, the Reign got goals from Angharad James-Turner, Brittany Ratcliffe and Maddie Mercado before a crowd of 3,023. Maddie Mercado and Nerilia Mondesir scored against Racing Louisville before a late goal from Macy Blackburn, with 3,879 on hand for that one.
“It was the first time I’d been to the stadium, so it had a little bit of nostalgic feel to me. I know it’s new, but it being quite intimate, the field being a little smaller, I actually love that,” Seattle coach Laura Harvey said.
The Reign headed back home to Seattle after facing Louisville. They’ll return to Spokane to host the Denver Summit on Saturday.
The Reign have won two straight after falling 2-0 against the Thorns in Portland. Seattle has technically won nine straight “home” matches dating back to last season. But there’s no getting around the fact that Spokane isn’t really home.
“We’ve tried to do everything to make it feel like a home game, but really our schedule feels like it’s an away game, just because we’re in a hotel and all together and stuff,” Harvey said.
There were some season ticket holders who were upset about the move, as The IX’s Bella Munson wrote in January. But One Spokane was the only soccer-specific venue in the state that met the NWSL standards. Plus, the matches allow the Reign to reach Washington fans who may not normally be able to travel to games.
And the Reign aren’t the only team displaced: the Seattle Sounders have also played in Spokane, defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps in the second leg of a Concacaf Champions Cup match earlier this month.
Lumen’s natural grass should be in place for the U.S. women’s national team match against Japan in Seattle on April 14.
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