By Seattle is a city with a rich sporting heritage. After all, it is one of the hosts for the forthcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup and one of its stadiums has held the official Guinness World Record for the loudest roar. That would be a good place to start…
Seattle Seahawks NFL
When it comes to the oval-shaped football, the Seattle Seahawks are one of the teams most loved in the city. The NFL side regularly pulls in more than half a million spectators across the season and the crowd is known as “the 12th man” because of the immense noise they generate. NFL Lines must be piling up on the biggest roar again some time soon. They also perform on the pitch, having won 11 division titles and three Conference Championships. The Seahawks won the 2014 Super Bowl 43-8, one of the widest margins ever, against the Denver Broncos.
Seattle Sounders: MLS
Seattle’s Major League Soccer team was established in 2007. The Sounders possessed the largest average attendance in the league in their debut season. Now they have grown that model into a roaring fanbase where they can pack in almost 70,000 fans into Lumen Field for big occasions, a bigger capacity than famous stadiums like Anfield or the San Siro. The club’s fanatical support certainly helped get Seattle as a primary venue for the World Cup in 2026.
On the field of play, Seattle have always been competitive in the last decade. They won their first MLS Cup in 2016 and repeated the feat in 2019. They were the first MLS team to win the CONCACAF Champions League in 2022 and the first MLS team to take part in FIFA’s Club World Cup.
Seattle have over 45,000 season ticket-holders and their home matches typically sell out within about 30 minutes of going live. They have brought soccer to life in the Emerald City.
Seattle Mariners: Major League Baseball
The Seattle Mariners compete in the American League West Division of the MLB, originally joining the league as an expansion team in 1977. They now play in the impressive T-Mobile Park which has a seating capacity that is nearing 50,000. Their most famous period of consistent success was in 2001 when they won a record 116 games which tied the amount of victories in the modern era set by the Chicago Cubs.
They made the playoffs for the first time in over two decades in 2022 and are also enjoying another good campaign in 2024 with established hitters like
Julio Rodríguez, J.P. Crawford and Cal Raleigh and reliable starting pitchers Luis Castillo and George Kirby. They may not hit the heights of the legend that was Ken Griffey Jr but the good times might be back.
Seattle Storm – Women’s National Basketball Association
Seattle Storm’s rise in the WNBA is a huge source of pride and real relevance in raising the profile of women’s sport in the city. The side have won the Championship no less than four times – never losing a final – together with two Conference titles. One of their greatest players was Sue Bird who played her entire career over two decades at the Storm, winning five Olympic titles during that period as well. Storm guard Jewell Loyd was recently named Star of the Year at the 89th Seattle Sports Star of the Year Awards.
The team moved to the multi-purpose Climate Pledge Arena in 2022, the year Bird retired in front of a franchise record of just over 18,000.
Seattle Krakken – National Hockey League
The Seattle Krakken also play at the Climate Pledge Arena, which is aiming to bea crabon neutral venue with a wow factor of a 1,600-square-foot area of plants in a Living Wall along the western concourse.
The Krakken are the newest team in the NHL having started during the 2021-22 campaign. They do have experienced players like German international goaltender Philipp Grubauer.
Seattle Reign -National Women’s Soccer League
Seattle Reign play in the NWSL’s West Division and their most famous (retired) player Megan Rapinoe played for the club (when they were called OL Reign) for a decade scoring over 50 goals. She also represented the U.S. national team on over 200 occasions.
Like their male counterparts, the women also play at Lumen Field which makes for a great soccer day out when they play back to back with the Sounders
They have been runners-up in the NWSL Championship three times but have won a trio of NWSL Shields as the 2022 Women’s Cup in Louisville.
Seattle not only has successful sports teams, it also carries a great passion for them in some of the most impressive stadiums around the globe. When the world comes to the Emerald City in 2026, they will discover just a taste of what passion the citizens hold for one of their beautiful games.