Faulty reasoning signals

• Confirmation Bias - 7.6% (67 hits)
• Anchoring Bias - 2.9% (26 hits)
• Availability Heuristic - 8.6% (76 hits)
• Representativeness Heuristic - 4.8% (42 hits)
• Hindsight Bias - 2.9% (26 hits)
• Overconfidence Bias - 1.1% (10 hits)
• Framing Effect - 2.1% (19 hits)
• Loss Aversion - 0%
• Status Quo Bias - 0%
• Sunk Cost Effect - 0%
• Optimism Bias - 2.8% (25 hits)
• Pessimism Bias - 5.1% (45 hits)

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It's Seattle's best sports year yet.

Will Mayor Katie Wilson benefit?

The day before the U.S.-Australia match last month, Mayor Katie Wilson took to a West Seattle soccer field with other local politicians to play some visiting Australian members of parliament.

King County Councilmember Jorge Barón passed the ball to Wilson early on, she headed toward the Australian goal, and suddenly fell to her hands and knees in the grass.

“Now, you know, I would've preferred if someone had tripped me,” Wilson told KUOW last week, laughing, “but that was really just me and the turf.”

Wilson is more of an informal pickup-game-in-the-park type player than on a big field.

She can juggle the ball between her feet and her head, but she’s not a speedy runner.

“The thing that I love about soccer, and I think what really makes it such a global sport is that a group of kids, a group of adults, like, anywhere in the world … put some backpacks on the ground for your goals, and you can play, right?”

Wilson said.

“And so there's this really democratic side of that sport.”

RELATED: Seattle World Cup’s biggest win: Pioneer Square pedestrian zone

During this World Cup, hosting so many important international games and visitors, Seattle has been a juiced-up version of the vision Wilson is trying to sell for the city — pedestrianized streets hosting giant watch parties more people than ever are taking transit to get to.

“This has been so good for our city,” Wilson said.

“And it has been so amazing to see just thousands and thousands of people in our public space, joyful, talking to each other, connecting across cultures.

And I think we all want to keep that energy going, right?

Especially, again, coming out of these really hard years of the pandemic.”

RELATED: Seattle’s last World Cup match is set to be its biggest

Art Thiel is a veteran sports writer.

He says a mayor can benefit from great sports vibes.

“ I think there is a virtue and a value to being, I guess, culturally savvy,” Thiel said, “in the use of sports not only to promote a city, but to bring a tangible feeling of civic pride and enthusiasm to a community.”

The sun sets on the FIFA World Cup match between Egypt and Iran, on Friday, June 26, 2026, in Seattle.

KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer

The enthusiasm has maybe never been more obvious than this year.

The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl, the World Cup is here, and the SuperSonics feel closer than ever to potentially returning.

None of that is due to Wilson.

“All of this is just random coincidence,” Thiel said, pointing out the FIFA and NBA developments were largely set in motion during Wilson’s two predecessors’ terms.

RELATED: Pioneer Square is booming during World Cup.

Seattle’s CID, not so much.

Advocates demand city help

In fact, since taking office, some of Wilson’s prep for the World Cup has gone over badly with even her supporters.

She installed cameras around the stadiums after opposing them last year, then confusingly went back and forth about when they’d be on and off.

They’re on during the World Cup, but Wilson has said she'll turn them off after unless there's a "credible threat."

Wilson also hasn’t delivered on shelters she promised by the World Cup and homeless sweeps continue.

RELATED: Is Seattle sweeping more homeless camps for the World Cup?

So what happens when the World Cup is over, and there’s not a global love fest happening in Pioneer Square almost every night?

Wilson can't count on the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl every year of her term.

“The buzz of winning a major tournament or a major championship is a temporary buzz,” said University of Washington professor Ron Krabill, who runs UW’s Global Sports Lab.

“And so politicians can often ride that temporary buzz, but it's unlikely that they can translate that into a long-term buzz.”

RELATED: Pride, protest, and politics surround Seattle's Egypt-Iran World Cup match

But the politics of sports in this town, Krabill said, are unusual.

“It is a sports town by all metrics,” Krabill said.

“Lots of people are big fans.

Lots of people are excited about it.

But people are also pretty critical of public spending for sports and, particularly, sports infrastructure.”

World Cup crowds bring some boom, some bust for Seattle businesses

Go back 20 years: In 2006, Seattle voted, overwhelmingly, that any public investment in sports facilities had to give a “fair value” return to the city.

Wilson was new in town then and said she doesn’t remember how she voted.

But she’s skeptical of public funding for stadiums, especially with a tight city budget.

That conversation could come up again, Thiel said.

The Seahawks are up for sale, the potential Sonics owners could come to City Hall with their hands out.

But right now, Wilson’s focusing on Monday’s World Cup game.

“I think it is going to be amazing,” Wilson said.

“ There are going to be so many people in Seattle cheering on our team.”

And she’ll try again on the pitch at another "electeds match" on July 12 at Miller Playfield.

Maybe this time she’ll score.

RELATED: Seattle's Pioneer Square becomes Patriot Square for Team USA World Cup match