The 2019 Major League Soccer season ended with a thrilling MLS Cup™ in front of a sold-out crowd that cheered on the home team to a 3-1 victory on Sunday November 10, 2019. Seattle Sounders FC and Toronto FC squared off for the third time in four years for the MLS Cup title. Lucky and responsible fans representing Toronto FC and Sounders FC were at the game at CenturyLink Field in Seattle as the grand prize winners of the “Responsibility Has Its Rewards” sweepstakes.
Patty Sherman, Seattle Sounders FC Responsible Fan for the Season from Anacortes, WA, and Justin Chee, Toronto FC Responsible Fan for the Season from Markham, Ontario, were selected as the grand prize winner of the “Responsibility Has Its Rewards” sweepstakes when the Sounders and Toronto FC won their way to the 2019 MLS Cup™. Click here for complete sweepstakes rules.
The sweepstakes is in its 15th season, provided by TEAM Coalition with support from Major League Soccer. It continues to succeed in raising awareness for the designated driver and responsible fan programs offered by MLS clubs.
In advance of MLS Cup, TEAM Coalition offered fans an opportunity to autograph the responsibility wall and smile for a souvenir photo at the Soccer Celebration. A total of 257 soccer fans made the pledge to prevent drunk driving and to be responsible at MLS Cup. The 109 photos taken outside CenturyLink Field before the game were viewed a total of 241 times.
US DOT / NHTSA 2018 NATIONAL DATA:
- In 2018, 10,511 people were killed as a result of alcohol-related (BAC > 0.08) car crashes, an decrease of 3.6% from the 10,908 fatalities in 2017.
- Many, if not most of those lives would have been saved if people did not drive when they were impaired by alcohol or if they used sober, designated drivers or if they simply wore their seat belts.
- Statistics and research clearly show that 21-34 year old males are the demographic most likely to be involved in an automobile crash, drive when impaired by alcohol, and fail to buckle up.