TUKWILA — Practice drills and scrimmages continued Tuesday in Sounders FC's preseason training, but the audience was different.

High-profile spectators watching from the sideline for the first time this year included majority owner Joe Roth, celebrity owner Drew Carey and former goalkeeper and captain Kasey Keller. Roth and Carey were in town for the team's quarterly business meeting. Keller, who retired after last season, had waited to attend practice to avoid being a distraction early in camp.

Roth liked what he saw at a rainy Starfire Sports Campus.

"I can tell this year that we have the depth to get better," he said.

The Sounders have developed into one of the top teams in MLS, but so far regular-season success hasn't carried over into the playoffs. When asked if he's getting impatient with underwhelming postseason results, Roth said no.

"We do get better (each season)," he said. "It's hard to complain. ... I think we'll have a good run this year."

In a wide-ranging interview with reporters, Roth praised the team's aggressive offseason and the league's continual growth. A couple of changes he would like to see in MLS, however, are an increased salary cap, better television coverage and improvements to help teams keep a core group together.

With the announcement that Philadelphia will host the 2012 MLS All-Star Game in July, Roth was asked if there was interest in bringing future All-Star games to Seattle.

"I think that the fan base here has shown us — whether it's exhibitions or All-Star games — they'd rather see us play in competition," he said. "We're here for the fans, so I'd rather do it that way."

Keller watched the Sounders practice for the first time as a nonplayer.

"I really didn't know how I would feel, and it feels right," said the 42-year-old Olympia native.

Keller is ready to prepare for his new role as the team's broadcast color commentator when play-by-play man Ross Fletcher arrives in town. He isn't sure how long his broadcasting career will last, but understands things might not go so smoothly at first.

"I'm just looking forward to starting and having some fun," Keller said.

All games count to Cascadia Cup

Despite an imbalance in the 2012 schedule, all rivalry games involving the Sounders, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps will count toward the Cascadia Cup, the teams' main supporters' groups announced Tuesday.

Next season, Portland hosts four of its six rivalry games. Seattle, conversely, is on the road for four of six games and Vancouver is balanced with three home games and three away. The schedule is expected to be reversed in 2013 (e.g. the Sounders would host four of six, instead).

Coach Sigi Schmid said the imbalance makes the Cascadia Cup competition unfair.

"I think the Northwest is an important part of MLS and soccer, and I think down the line (league officials) have got to find a way to balance it," Schmid said. "But not next year. Next year the advantage should return to us and then balance it off in 2014."

NOTE

• An invitee in preseason training has been identified as Jamaican midfielder Andrew Vanzie, 21. He has a four-week tryout, according to a report.

Joshua Mayers: 206-464-3184 or jmayers@seattletimes.com

On Twitter: @joshuamayers