Sports in Seattle
The Seattle metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States is home to several professional and amateur sports teams.
[2] In 2023, the city welcomed one of the first six franchises in North America's newly-formed professional cricket (MLC) league with the arrival of the Seattle Orcas.
Starting in the 2019 NWSL season, the rebranded Reign FC began play on their new home pitch at Tacoma's Cheney Stadium.
Instead, five years later, on December 3, 2017, the Council approved the expansion of Key Arena in Seattle Center, under the direction of the Oak View Group.
The new professional hockey team was originally expected to join the league in the 2020-21 season, given an on-time completion of the Arena expansion project.
In just their second regular season, the Seattle Kraken made their first trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the top Wild Card position in the Pacific Division (NHL).
The Seawolves won back-to-back titles in the first two seasons of the league's existence, defeating the Glendale Raptors 23–19 in 2018 and San Diego Legion 26–23 in 2019.
Led by Lenny Wilkens, the Seattle SuperSonics made it to the NBA Finals in two consecutive years in the late 1970s.
The next time the Sonics made it to NBA Finals was in 1996 when they met the Chicago Bulls, to whom they lost the series in six games.
The team earned a fourth WNBA title in 2020 in a sweep against the Las Vegas Aces with all games played at a quarantined facility in Florida.
[10] The Seattle Mariners have won the American League West Pennant three times – in 1995, 1997, and, most recently, in 2001, after a record 116-win season.
After the then-longest playoff drought in professional American sports (21 years), the Mariners clinched their next trip to the post-season on September 30, 2022 by defeating the Oakland Athletics with a walk-off home run in the ninth inning in front of a sold-out crowd at T-Mobile Park.
Seattle continued its U.S. Open Cup dominance in the 2011 campaign, becoming the fourth team ever to win the tournament in three consecutive years (the last being the Greek American AA in 1967–69).
On October 25, 2014, in front of a crowd of 57,673 at CenturyLink Field, the Sounders topped the LA Galaxy by a score of 2–0 to claim their first MLS Supporters' Shield.
Then, on December 10, 2016 in front of a crowd of 36,000 at BMO Field, the Sounders won their first MLS Cup against Toronto FC in a penalty shootout by a score of 5–4.
On November 10, 2019, the Sounders played in their third MLS Cup against Toronto FC, winning 3–1 to achieve their second title with a club-record home attendance of 69,274.
On May 4, 2022 - in front of a home crowd of 68,751 - the Sounders became the first MLS team to win the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League, defeating Mexican side Pumas UNAM with an aggregate score of 5 goals to 2.
The Reign became the league's first team to repeat this achievement when they defeated the Boston Breakers at Memorial Stadium on August 26, 2015.
In 2014, the Seahawks defeated the San Francisco 49ers at CenturyLink Field, to clinch their second NFC title and a berth in Super Bowl XLVIII, where they routed the Denver Broncos 43–8 to win their first Lombardi trophy.
The following season, the Seahawks overcame a deficit in the NFC championship game with the Green Bay Packers in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to claim their first back-to-back George Halas trophies.
The Seattle Thunderbirds are a Major Junior league ice hockey team that plays at the ShoWare Center.
The Seattle SeaDogs defeated the Houston Hotshots two games to none for the Continental Indoor Soccer League championship in 1997.
They also won the silver medal at the World Ultimate Games (WUGC) in 2008 in Vancouver and at WUCC in 2010 in Prague, Czech Republic.
[14] In addition to the Seattle-based teams, the Spokane-based Gonzaga Bulldogs play one men's basketball game each season at Climate Pledge Arena in an event billed as the Battle in Seattle.
[17] The dojo moved to its own building in 1934 and was temporarily closed during World War II and the internment of Japanese Americans.
[19] As of a 2024 survey by Nielsen, 8.2 percent of adults in the Seattle metropolitan area had recently played pickleball—among the highest rates for U.S.
[24][25] The stadium will also host the group stage matches for Seattle Sounders FC during the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
