As the final whistle blew on the MLS Cup at Centurylink Field in Seattle on Nov. 10, 2019, the entire city went crazy as the Sounders were crowned the champions in front of 70,000 screaming fans. The moment will forever be etched in the minds of Seattle Pacific University Alumni Corey Sinser (‘09) and Jackson Felts (‘14) who have been closely involved with the team since the early 2010’s.

“MLS Cup 2019 is the greatest professional moment of my life,” Felts, host of the Sounders pre and post game shows, said. “And I’m crying as they’re celebrating a championship on the field in front of 70,000 people, and I just kind of say the first words in my head, which were ‘This is the greatest moment in Seattle soccer history.’”

“My mom got to come on the field after the game, the confetti and the celebration, it was a party like the city hasn’t seen in a long time,” Sinser, director of player personnel for the Sounders, said.

Even though Felts works in radio and Sinser works directly with the Sounders, their jobs intersect with one another. Despite the intersection, they both have their own impact on the world of sports. Both of their impacts in the sporting world were uniquely produced through their education at SPU and pure love for the intricate game of soccer.

Felts never played soccer, but found a love for it through immersing himself in the sport.

“There may only be a few goals scored in a game. You have to really understand what’s going on, and that’s something that I realized when I first started covering the Sounders in 2015, I really had to learn the complexities of that, and it made it just so much more interesting and so much more beautiful to me when you understand, ” said Felts.

Felts grew up listening to the late Mariners’ broadcaster Dave Niehaus on long road trips, and knew that working in sports radio was something he wanted to do. He had a two hour sports talk show at KSPU, and the SPU mentorship program landed him job shadows in Mariners radio broadcasting, and two radio stations in Seattle, where he fell in love with his job.

“The SPU mentor program was so influential in connecting me to all these individuals and allowing me to figure out exactly which direction I wanted to go with my career. I just can’t thank everybody in that program at that time enough for their direction,” Felts said.

Now, Felts produces a daily sports radio show from 3:00- 7:00 pm on 950 KJR for his fellow colleagues Dave “Softy” Mahler and Dick Fain. He not only helps plan the show, but makes sure that everything goes flawlessly while they are on air. He also runs the Sounders pre and post game shows and hosts ‘Sounders Weekly’ on the station every Tuesday night.

Sinser described his family as “All-American,” as his parents mostly paid attention to baseball, basketball and football, but they signed him up for soccer as well.

“I didn’t like any of the other sports, but I would at least do soccer, and they didn’t have to drag me kicking and screaming from the car to do it … it just kind of snowballed from there,” Sinser said.

Sinser is a former member of the SPU soccer team. He had many triumphant memories while he was a part of the Falcon soccer team, but none were as memorable as his senior night against Northwest Nazarene University.

“I had the fifth and final goal, and we won 5-1. We were kind of on the cusp of maybe making the tournament, maybe not. We ended up just on the outside looking in, so it ended up being the last game of my college career, and to go out on a high like that, you can’t script it much better.” said Sinser.

Sinser joined the Sounders in a smaller role right out of college, but moved across the country to Washington D.C. to become a government contractor. He stayed there until a job with the Sounders opened up in 2017, and he eventually settled into his current role as director of player personnel.

His job currently varies each day, but on a day to day basis, he could deal with immigration matters for players who need help travelling to play, handling player contracts for not only the Sounders but for their minor league team called the Tacoma Defiance, managing the salary cap, and scouting new players to join the team.

“Our general manager likes to say that he’s a mile wide and an inch deep. I feel at times that’s kind of an apt description of my job,” Sinser said. “I’m not a data analytics expert, but I know this much enough to be dangerous. I’m not an immigration attorney, but I know how to do a DS-160 for a E1 visa. I’m not an accountant, but I know how the salary cap works. You just kind of have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.”

Through hard work, dedication, and taking the right opportunities, both Felts and Sinser are now experiencing their dream careers.

Note

A previous version of this story referred to Felts as an employee of the Seattle Sounders, referred to his job shadowing opportunities as internships, and incorrectly listed his responsibilities on the daily sports radio show. The Falcon regrets the error.