Seattle Impact FC was an American professional

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor s ...

team that began play as a member of the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

with its 2014-15 season. Based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, the Impact played its home games at the

ShoWare Center The accesso ShoWare Center is a multi-purpose arena in Kent, Washington, Kent, Washington (state), Washington, United States. About the venue The construction of the arena began September 2005, with the venue opening in January 2009. The princ ...

in nearby

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. After struggles on and off the field, the team's assets were sold mid-season to Lane Smith whose Tacoma Stars completed Seattle's scheduled 2015 regular season games.

History

Originally, the team was going to be named the Tacoma Stars, in honor of the original Stars which played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League from 1983 until the league folded in 1992. However, because of a legal dispute with the Tacoma Soccer Center over ownership of said name, owner Dion Earl abandoned these plans, choosing instead to name the team Seattle Impact FC (Seattle to represent the greater metropolitan area which also included Tacoma and Kent, and Impact at his wife's suggestion). Jason Dunn, an Olympia native who played college soccer for

and Seattle Pacific and later for the

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

and the indoor

Seattle SeaDogs The Seattle SeaDogs are a defunct indoor soccer team that played in the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) from 1995 to 1997. They won the last CISL championship in 1997. History In 1995, the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) awarded a ...

, was set to serve as the Impact's inaugural head coach. Just before the regular season started, Dunn and assistant coach Todd Haley left the team after the Impact failed to make contractual payments due on October 25. Impact owner Dion Earl announced that he will serve as head coach as well as continue his role as a player. The planned "Ladies with Impact"

dance team A dance squad or dance team, sometimes called a pom squad or song team, is a team of participants that participates in competitive dance. A dance squad can also include: a jazz squad, ballet squad, or any kind of religion dance squad. Dance squads ...

disbanded when several members resigned after alleging that Impact owner Dion Earl made sexual advances towards them. The dancers also claimed that the team had not paid them for their work. The dance team's former co-captain obtained a sexual harassment protection order against Earl from

King County Superior Court The Superior Court of Washington for King County (more commonly, the King County Superior Court) is the largest trial court in Washington state. It is based at the King County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue, in downtown Seattle, Washington. It als ...

Judge Chad Allred on October 22. A large number of the players contracted to Impact quit in protest. Earl denied the claims. Although no criminal charges were filed, Earl subsequently lost a civil suit brought by four former employees in a default judgment after he refused to attend the trial. On January 12, 2015, ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington ...

'' revealed that Impact owner Dion Earl was negotiating to sell the struggling franchise to Lane Smith, owner of the Tacoma Stars of the

semi-pro ''Semi-Pro'' is a 2008 American sports comedy film. The film was directed by Kent Alterman in his directorial debut, written by Scot Armstrong, and produced by Jimmy Miller. It stars Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin and Maura Tier ...

Western Indoor Soccer League The Western Indoor Soccer League (WISL) is an American semi-professional indoor soccer league. It was formed on June 20, 2014 by a group of arena/team owners in the Pacific Northwest. The WISL began its first season on November 15, 2014 with five ...

. The Impact sold the rights to its top players for cash during the negotiation period. The sale was completed on January 14, with Smith acquiring the team's assets but not the staff or player roster. The Tacoma Stars took over the Impact's remaining schedule and played their MASL home games at the

while continuing to also compete in the

Year-by-year

References

External links

Seattle Impact official website
{{Washington Sports Association football clubs established in 2014 Association football clubs disestablished in 2015 Indoor soccer clubs in the United States Defunct Major Arena Soccer League teams Defunct indoor soccer clubs in the United States Soccer clubs in Seattle Sports in Kent, Washington 2014 establishments in Washington (state) 2015 disestablishments in Washington (state) Defunct soccer clubs in Washington (state)