Pro sports in West Seattle: Rainmakers to play Ultimate @ SWAC

(Photo by Tino Tran: Rainmaker Reid Koss catching, in preseason matchup vs. Portland)
This spring, you won’t have to go downtown to see professional sports: The Seattle Rainmakers just announced their home games will be at Southwest Athletic Complex in Westwood, starting a week from this Saturday. Here’s the announcement:

Major League Ultimate (MLU) is establishing one of its eight professional ultimate frisbee teams in the Seattle area. The Seattle Rainmakers join the MLU’s Western Conference, and kick off their season on April 20th against the Vancouver Nighthawks.

The Seattle Rainmakers are coached by the highly decorated Ben Wiggins, a participant in, and coach of, elite ultimate in the northwest for the better part of the last decade. Wiggins has won awards at the highest level of collegiate ultimate, taken three club championships with Seattle’s premier club team, Seattle Sockeye, and has two World Championship silver medals to his name.

“Seattle has an amazing Ultimate community,” said Wiggins. “Hopefully the Rainmakers can show them something new that also embodies a love for the game wherever we play.”

Wiggins selected a 25-man roster in mid-March following a comprehensive two-day combine that tested participants on speed, strength, agility and disc skills. The resulting team is deep on talent, athleticism and, perhaps most importantly, experience.

“I think the Rainmakers are right there talent-wise with the best teams in the league,” said General Manager Max Vitali. “When you look at the years of experience a lot of these players bring and combine it with the pedigree of our coaching staff, it’s tough to find another team in the league that looks better on paper than us.”

Vitali is looking forward to watching his team in action, and has high hopes for their prospects in this inaugural season. More than that, he’s excited to bring a fast-growing sport to the city of Seattle.

“The fans in Seattle have absolutely blown us away over the last several months. We’re overjoyed that we can showcase the next phase of ultimate in their city, and we’re looking forward to bringing home the MLU’s first championship trophy later this summer.”

The regular season schedule runs from April 20 through June 22. Games are played at Chief Sealth Stadium near West Seattle, and tickets are available for $16. Discounts are available for students and children.

That would be the Southwest Athletic Complex, 2801 SW Thistle. See the season schedule (with ticketing links) by going here.

11 Replies to "Pro sports in West Seattle: Rainmakers to play Ultimate @ SWAC"

  • Stephanie April 9, 2013 (11:50 am)

    Can’t wait, super excited! Wen t to their pre-season game on Sunday against The Portland Stags….Rainmaker’s kicked it winning 19-7….they are awesome! Will definitely be going to their games, and all the better they are in WS.

  • Heather April 9, 2013 (12:23 pm)

    I’m so excited!!!! Ultimate is fantastic to watch if you’ve never done so and a welcome addition to the community!!!! And yes, it’s worthy of 8 exclamation marks :)

  • Ann April 9, 2013 (12:56 pm)

    Thank you for highlighting this new professional sport in Seattle. Both my kids, now adults, play Ultimate Frisbee and I am continually surprised at people who don’t know what it is. Schools throughout Seattle have teams as well. I encourage people to go out and join parents watching their kids play the sport. I’m sure you will be impressed by the skill levels of these professional players and appreciate the wow factor involved in their play! Go Rainmakers!!

  • DaveB April 9, 2013 (1:43 pm)

    Professional Frisbee players is a concept I am struggling to get my mind around.

  • skeptic April 9, 2013 (5:50 pm)

    How soon until they will want a fancy stadium?

  • bearschick April 9, 2013 (6:25 pm)

    WSB…please be sure to post when the games are! Thnx

    • WSB April 9, 2013 (6:27 pm)

      The schedule link is in the last line of the story. We will put the home games in our calendar but your best bet is to bookmark that …

  • jissy April 9, 2013 (9:39 pm)

    I was truly there and excited until I saw “… tickets are available for $16.00.” Seriously??

  • B-check April 10, 2013 (12:10 am)

    Agree with Jissy – I’ve played in a few Ultimate leagues (very much a novice), and it’s an awesome sport. The high level talent has to be quite entertaining in person, but that sure seems like a steep price for an up and coming pro league that should be trying to develop a fan base.

  • Stephanie April 10, 2013 (8:01 am)

    I am fine with the $16 / $12 per ticket. They have bills to pay too. They can’t give away the tickets…..

  • triplej April 10, 2013 (12:07 pm)

    I agree with B-Check and jissy 2 of my kids play the sport and I’m sure they would love to see a game but assuming it’s $16 for an adult and $12 for kids thats $40. If I add in the rest of the family it would be almost $70!

    That’s very high for a new sport.

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