A Seattle expansion team for the North American Soccer League was proposed in early 1973 as part of a new Western Division that would include Los Angeles, San Jose, and Vancouver.

[4] The Sounders assembled a roster of players from European leagues, including Americans returning from overseas, and hired John Best as their coach.

[5][6] They played for four days before their league debut on May 5, 1974, against Los Angeles Aztecs;[7] the team lost 2–1 on the road with the first goal in Sounders history scored by John Rowlands.

[8] Their home debut, a week later at Memorial Stadium in Seattle, was a 4–0 victory against the Denver Dynamos in front of 12,132 spectators; Rowlands scored twice in the match.

They announced a move to the new multi-purpose Kingdome ahead of the 1976 season, planning to limit capacity to 38,000 seats for most matches but charge the same prices as their Memorial Stadium tickets.

[14] The Sounders played the first sporting event at the Kingdome on April 9, 1976, hosting the New York Cosmos in an exhibition match that they lost 3–1 with 58,128 in attendance.

[16] In January 1983, the Coluccios sold 75 percent of the franchise to former National Football League player and businessman Bruce Anderson and REI executive Jerry Horn, who split the shares in half; an offer to sell the team to Bud Greer for $5.8 million was rejected so the Coluccios could retain control of the Sounders.

Anderson immediately announced the firing of head coach Alan Hinton, stating that the "style of play [was] not what we want to present".

[17] The team adopted a new logo, colors, and theme song as part of an "Americanization" campaign led by Anderson, which was poorly received by fans.

[24] The payrolls for players and staff went unpaid for several matches in August, including the EuroPac Cup against Vancouver and teams from Brazil and China.

[28][29] The Sounders lost an estimated $7 million in their final years of operation and the rights to the team's name were sold to Hinton.

[9][32] They were replaced by a Major League Soccer team, named Seattle Sounders FC in honor of both predecessors, which made their debut on March 19, 2009.

[43] The team renewed their contract with KVI for the 1975 season, with Robertson reprising his role and joined by head coach John Best for a pre-match segment.

[48][49] The team contracted with KOMO beginning in the 1979 season with Huskies announcer Bob Rondeau as play-by-play commentator for home matches alongside Grieve.