page_title: MLS Cup 2019
section_title: Venue and preparations
hierarchical_section_title: MLS Cup 2019 / Venue and preparations
caption_attribution_description: English: A New Flyer Xcelsior XT40 electric trolleybus operated by King County Metro, seen on Route 4 in downtown Seattle. It has an advertisement for MLS Cup 2019, which was hosted in Seattle.
context_page_description: MLS Cup 2019 was the 24th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer, and took place on November 10, 2019, at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington, United States. The match was contested by Seattle Sounders FC and Toronto FC to determine the champion of the 2019 season. It was a rematch of the 2016 and 2017 editions of the MLS Cup, which were won by Seattle and Toronto, respectively. This was the third final for both teams and the first to be hosted by the Sounders, as both of the previous Seattle–Toronto finals were held at BMO Field in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
  The Sounders won 3–1 to claim their second MLS Cup title, in front of 69,274 spectators at CenturyLink Field, setting a new stadium record. All four of the goals were scored in the second half, beginning with a deflected shot by Kelvin Leerdam and followed by strikes from substitute Víctor Rodríguez and Raúl Ruidíaz; Jozy Altidore scored a late consolation goal for Toronto in stoppage time. The match marked the conclusion of the 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs, which was contested by fourteen teams under a new single-elimination format that replaced the former two-legged ties.
context_section_description: MLS Cup 2019 was hosted by the Sounders at their home stadium, CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington, for the first time. It was previously known as Qwest Field when it hosted the 2009 edition of the cup as a neutral-site venue. The 69,000-seat stadium opened in 2002 as a shared venue for the National Football League's Seattle Seahawks and soccer, with the Sounders entering MLS seven years later.
  The Sounders announced that they would open all seating areas in the upper deck of the stadium for the MLS Cup final, making a total of 69,000 seats available, a change from previous rounds of the playoffs that were limited to 37,722 seats. Tickets were distributed to season ticket holders after the Eastern Conference Final, selling 50,000 seats, and were released for public sale beginning November 1. The remaining tickets were sold out within 20 minutes of the public release, including 3,000 allocated to away fans by the league. Prices for tickets on secondary markets peaked at an average of $622, surpassing all but one Seattle sporting event on SeatGeek. The club released a limited number of standing-room only tickets at the box office prior to the match that were also sold out.
  The Sounders hosted several fan events during the MLS Cup weekend, including the installation of a giant version of the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy at Pike Place Market and the lighting of several city landmarks in rave green. The MLS Cup trophy was also taken on a tour of the city, arriving aboard a state ferry and sent to the Space Needle to be displayed with former Sounders goalkeeper Kasey Keller. The club also organized a viewing party at Occidental Park with a concert by part-owner Macklemore. A seismograph was temporarily installed at the stadium by the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network to record fan reactions to events. Sound Transit ran several Sounder commuter train trips to King Street Station to accommodate the expected number of fans.
caption: A King County Metro bus in Downtown Seattle advertising MLS Cup 2019
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