Hanauer lays bet on Seattle soccer

Adrian Hanauer has built a fortune making savvy bets.

He learned to play Texas Hold'em Poker by reading a how-to book and once turned a $5,000 buy-in into a $100,000 Las Vegas payday.

Hanauer invested in risky Web-technology startups and hit the jackpot. The millionaire has helped turn the Seattle Sounders soccer franchise into a success on the field as the club's managing partner.

His diligence and patience probably has kept pro soccer alive in Seattle. A group Hanauer leads is the odds-on choice to land a Major League Soccer franchise in the city by 2009.

Success seems to follow Hanauer, and an MLS expansion team in Seattle would be the latest victory for the shrewd businessman with the risk-taking side.

"I certainly think that an MLS championship in Seattle in front of a sold-out stadium would be another one of those high-level goals that I'd like to achieve someday," said Hanauer. "To be partially responsible for a championship of a major sports franchise, a highly respected and revered sports franchise in my hometown, would be a thrill."

And Hanauer wants to do it with players he can be proud of. "I don't want to do that by hiring a bunch of mercenary thugs who happen to win soccer games," he said.

That dream team would be like the current Sounders, who reached their third United Soccer Leagues First Division championship match in four seasons and seek the franchise's fourth title. The Sounders (26-8-7) host the Atlanta Silverbacks on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Tukwila's Starfire Sports Complex.

Hanauer, 41, has been building the Sounders' championship-caliber rosters since taking over the franchise in 2002.

"Players know we're going to treat them well and there's a lot of success here," Hanauer said of attracting players to the Sounders.

Hanauer's love of the game hasn't waned since he fell in love with the first-year Sounders in 1974 when he was 8.

"I went to every single Sounders game at Memorial Stadium and the Kingdome back then," he said. "I went to every after-game gathering and all the Sounders soccer camps.

"Those soccer players became an inspirational part of my life. I want the kids today to have soccer players like that to look up to."

The fan-turned-owner says his club has lost as much as $300,000 per year.

"It's not so much of an investment as it was a donation," said Hanauer. "It's kind of like supporting the opera. We wanted to keep soccer alive and visible."

In 1989, he took over the family's Seattle-based Pacific Coast Feather Co., which supplies down pillows and comforters to hotel chains. He started three successful businesses — Mad Pizza, Image Kind and Northwest Framing. The Hanauers also were early investors in aQuantive, a leading provider in digital marketing online that was purchased by Microsoft for $6 billion on Aug. 13

But the man who helps run 15 businesses always finds time for soccer between an endless stream of cellphone calls and text messages. He owns a share of Cambridge United, a fifth-division club just outside London. He plans many of his vacations around scouting trips or taking in matches overseas.

Hanauer still plays in on adult-league soccer team with Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer.

"I absolutely love being out there playing," said Hanauer, whose dream of playing at a higher level was dashed when he didn't make the Mercer Island High School varsity as a 5-foot-2 sophomore.

"There's something magical about creating something beautiful on the field."

The risk-taking millionaire hopes his team creates that same magic Saturday — and eventually in the MLS.