when d.c. united won the us soccer bidding process to host the tournament's final match, sounders fc general manager adrian hanauer expressed skepticism that d.c.'s bid to host the final had been better than the seattle bid. he further noted that if seattle had hosted the match, it likely would have sold out. this prompted a pointed reply from d.c. united president kevin payne in which he argued that d.c. united had won the bidding process fairly and that he was offended by hanauer's comments. on the heels of this public disagreement, d.c. united launched a marketing campaign to sell more tickets to the match which included a web site heralding the club's history of titles as an original mls franchise, wewintrophies.com; an open letter placed in local newspapers declaring that d.c. fans set the standard for support in the league and that sounders fc and its fans did not think d.c. deserved to host; videos on the team's official blog from local celebrities urging fans to attend and ticket and concession specials for the game. on september 2, 2009 the u.s. open cup final was played in washington d.c.'s rfk stadium. sounders fc prevailed 2–1 becoming the second mls expansion team in league history (chicago being the first) to win the cup in their inaugural mls season.