Seattle's - Culture - Professional Sports

Professional Sports

Club Sport League Venue Established Championships
Seattle Mariners Baseball MLB Safeco Field 1977 0
Seattle Seahawks Football NFL CenturyLink Field 1976 0
Seattle Sounders FC Soccer MLS CenturyLink Field 2007 0
Seattle Storm Basketball WNBA KeyArena 2000 2
Seattle Reign FC Soccer NWSL Starfire Sports 2012 0
Seattle Thunderbirds Ice hockey WHL ShoWare Center 1977 0
Seattle Totems Ice hockey WSHL Olympic View Ice Arena 2005 4
Seattle Mist Football LFL ShoWare Center 2009 N/AQ
Seattle Tacoma Cobras Football PDFL Federal Way Memorial 2009 3

Seattle's professional sports history began at the start of the 20th century with the PCHA's Seattle Metropolitans, which in 1917 became the first American hockey team to win the Stanley Cup. Today Seattle has three major professional sports teams: The National Football League's Seattle Seahawks, Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners, and Major League Soccer's Seattle Sounders FC. Other sports teams include the 2004 and 2010 Women's National Basketball Association champions, Seattle Storm. From 1967 to 2008 Seattle was also home to an NBA franchise, the Seattle SuperSonics, who were the 1978–79 NBA champions. The team relocated to Oklahoma City after the 2007–08 season and became the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Seattle was also home to a previous Major League Baseball franchise in 1969, the Seattle Pilots. The team relocated to Milwaukee and became the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970. The Seattle Thunderbirds are a major-junior hockey team that plays in one of the Canadian major-junior hockey leagues, the WHL (Western Hockey League). The Thunderbirds moved to nearby Kent, Washington during the 2008–2009 season. The Seattle Sounders FC began play in Major League Soccer in 2009.

The Major League Baseball All-Star game was held in Seattle twice, first at the Kingdome in 1979 and again at Safeco Field in 2001. That same year, the Seattle Mariners tied the all-time single regular season wins record with 116 wins. The NBA All-Star game was also held in Seattle twice, the first in 1974 at the Seattle Center Coliseum and the second in 1987 at the Kingdome.

In 2006, CenturyLink Field hosted the 2005–06 NFL playoffs. In 2008, CenturyLink Field hosted the first game of the 2007–08 NFL playoffs, in which the Seahawks defeated the Washington Redskins, 35–14. CenturyLink Field also serves as the home field for the Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer. Seattle also boasts a strong history in collegiate sports. The University of Washington and Seattle University are NCAA Division I schools.

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Famous quotes containing the words professional and/or sports:

    Smoking ... is downright dangerous. Most people who smoke will eventually contract a fatal disease and die. But they don’t brag about it, do they? Most people who ski, play professional football or drive race cars, will not die—at least not in the act—and yet they are the ones with the glamorous images, the expensive equipment and the mythic proportions. Why this should be I cannot say, unless it is simply that the average American does not know a daredevil when he sees one.
    Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)

    Reading about ethics is about as likely to improve one’s behavior as reading about sports is to make one into an athlete.
    Mason Cooley (b. 1927)