Seattle

Seattle's teams, venues and music in brief

Seattle's live-event map has two centers of gravity. South of downtown in SoDo, Lumen Field (the Seahawks of the NFL, plus Seattle Sounders FC and Seattle Reign FC) and T-Mobile Park (the Mariners of MLB) stand next to each other. North of downtown at Seattle Center, Climate Pledge Arena hosts the Seattle Kraken (NHL), the Seattle Storm (WNBA), the Seattle Torrent of the PWHL and the biggest indoor concerts.

Between them sit the historic downtown theaters, a club scene in Belltown and Capitol Hill that produced Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, and a stand-up and improv circuit that runs every night. Link light rail and the monorail connect most of it.

• Football: Seahawks, September into January; the team won Super Bowls XLVIII and LX.
• Baseball: Mariners, April through September, under a retractable roof.
• Hockey and basketball: Kraken from fall through spring; Storm in summer.
• Soccer: Sounders and Reign from late winter into fall at Lumen Field.

Concerts in Seattle, by room size

Arena and stadium shows

Climate Pledge Arena opened in October 2021 inside the landmarked roof and glass walls of the 1962 World's Fair pavilion that later became KeyArena. It holds up to 17,340 for concerts. For an end-stage show, the lower sideline sections give the best mix of distance and angle; seats directly behind the stage are either closed or sold as limited view. Stadium tours use Lumen Field or T-Mobile Park (47,368 for baseball).

Theaters

The Seattle Theatre Group runs three historic houses. The Paramount Theatre at 9th Avenue and Pine Street (opened 1928, about 2,807 seats) presents Broadway tours, concerts, dance and comedy. The Moore Theatre at 2nd Avenue and Virginia Street, two blocks from Pike Place Market, opened in 1907 and is Seattle's oldest active theater, with about 1,800 seats. The Neptune Theatre in the University District rounds out the group.

Clubs and ballrooms

The Showbox (founded 1939, now called The Showbox at the Market) is a ballroom by Pike Place Market with a history running from Duke Ellington to the grunge bands. Its sibling Showbox SoDo, a converted warehouse with about 1,800 capacity, sits a few blocks south of the stadiums. The Crocodile, opened in 1991 and now at 2505 1st Avenue in Belltown, was ranked by Rolling Stone in 2013 as the seventh-best club in the country.

The Gorge

The Gorge Amphitheatre, above the Columbia River about 150 miles east of Seattle near George, Washington, hosts summer festivals and multi-night runs. It is a full-day trip; many fans buy a camping ticket and stay the night rather than drive back after the show.

For "concerts tonight" in Seattle, the Crocodile and the Showbox rooms are the likeliest places to find same-day tickets; arena and Paramount headliners usually sell through in advance.

Comedy shows in Seattle

• Comedy Underground, at 109 South Washington Street in Pioneer Square, has run since 1981. As of 2026, it ran one 8:30 p.m. show Sunday through Thursday and two shows on Friday and Saturday, at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Weeknight shows were all ages, while Friday and Saturday were 21 and over; check before bringing anyone younger.
• Emerald City Comedy Club, at 210 Broadway East on Capitol Hill, is a cabaret-style stand-up room with a food and cocktail menu, booking national headliners, regional comics, open mics and contests.
• Unexpected Productions performs improv at the Market Theater in Post Alley inside Pike Place Market. Its long-running Theatresports show is billed as the longest-running show in Seattle, and its alumni include Joel McHale, who was in the Theatresports cast from 1993 to 1997.
• Touring headliners play the Paramount, which lists comedy among its regular programming; for the biggest names, check the Climate Pledge Arena calendar as well.

The Comedy Underground is a short walk from Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park, so a late show after a day game is easy to combine. Friday and Saturday headliners at either stand-up club are the dates to book early.

Where to sit at Lumen Field, T-Mobile Park and Climate Pledge Arena

Lumen Field

Opened in 2002 on the Kingdome site, Lumen Field seats 68,740 and expands to 72,000. Its roof covers about 70% of the seats but not the field, and the north end is open, holding the Hawks Nest bleachers. In Seattle's rainy months, the covered sideline seats are worth paying more for; the open north end is the loudest and most exposed part of the building.

T-Mobile Park

The Mariners' park opened on July 15, 1999, and seats 47,368. Its retractable roof does not fully enclose the ballpark, so wind and temperature still reach the seats when it is closed; the Mariners average only 17 or 18 roof-closed games a season, and a jacket is worth bringing for night games in April and September. The Mariners are the only active MLB franchise that has never reached the World Series, and the 2025 team reached the American League Championship Series, which shows how quickly demand jumps in a contending year.

Climate Pledge Arena

The arena seats 17,151 for hockey and 18,300 for basketball. For the Kraken, the lower bowl along the sides and the first rows of the upper level both show the whole ice. The Storm, four-time WNBA champions, draw their strongest crowds for playoff games and summer weekends.

Season calendar for Seattle events

• Spring: Mariners Opening Day, the MLS and NWSL seasons, Kraken playoff runs in qualifying years and the start of the Storm season.
• Summer: baseball most nights, Storm games, Gorge Amphitheatre concerts and the driest weather of the year.
• Labor Day weekend: Bumbershoot, the music and arts festival held at Seattle Center since 1971, fills the area around Climate Pledge Arena.
• Fall and winter: Seahawks home games, the Kraken season, touring concerts and Broadway at the Paramount.

Seahawks games against NFC West rivals, especially the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams, draw the most demand. Mariners games jump in demand when the team contends, and weekend series in summer sell faster than weekday games.

Getting to the venues and where to stay

• Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park (SoDo and Pioneer Square): Link light rail's 1 Line serves Stadium station and International District/Chinatown station, and the line continues to Sea-Tac Airport, so you can fly in and ride straight to a game. Sounder commuter trains stop at King Street Station nearby. Pioneer Square and the International District hold the closest bars and restaurants; downtown hotels are a short ride away.
• Climate Pledge Arena (Seattle Center and Lower Queen Anne): the Seattle Center Monorail runs about two minutes between Westlake Center downtown and Seattle Center, with no intermediate stops. Lower Queen Anne has restaurants and a few hotels within walking distance.
• Paramount, Moore, Showbox and the Crocodile (downtown and Belltown): walkable from most downtown hotels and from Pike Place Market.
• Emerald City Comedy Club (Capitol Hill): on Broadway East, the neighborhood's main nightlife strip; Capitol Hill station on the 1 Line is nearby.

Practical tips before you buy

• Prepare for rain from fall through spring. For football, a covered seat at Lumen Field is often the difference between a good and a miserable afternoon.
• Check stadium bag rules. As of the 2025 season, Lumen Field allowed clear bags up to 12 by 6 by 12 inches, clear backpacks with no more than two pockets, one-gallon freezer bags and small bags up to 4.5 by 6.5 inches. Check the Lumen Field bag policy before you go.
• Expect cashless venues. Lumen Field operates as a cashless venue, and many Seattle venues follow the same approach.
• Plan for the Gorge. It is about 150 miles from Seattle, with limited services nearby; arrange camping or lodging before you buy.
• Buy with confidence for big dates. Every GoodSeats order includes guaranteed entry, which matters most for Seahawks rivalry games and arena tours that sell out early.

Sources

• Wikipedia – Seattle
• Wikipedia – Climate Pledge Arena
• Wikipedia – T-Mobile Park
• Wikipedia – Lumen Field
• Lumen Field – Parking and Transportation
• Lumen Field – Clear Bag Policy
• Lumen Field – Cashless
• Wikipedia – Seattle Seahawks
• Wikipedia – Seattle Mariners
• Wikipedia – Seattle Storm
• Wikipedia – Toronto Blue Jays (2025 ALCS)
• Wikipedia – Paramount Theatre (Seattle)