KeyArena at Seattle Center, commonly known as KeyArena, is a multipurpose arena located north of downtown Seattle, USA. It is part of a a 74-acre entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, on the grounds of the site of 1962’s Century 21 Exposition, a World’s Fair. It is used for non-athletic entertainment purposes, such as concerts, ice shows, circuses, and professional wrestling events.
It has a seating capacity for basketball games of 17,072,[1] ice hockey games and ice shows 15,177, end-stage concerts is 16,641, and center-stage concerts and boxing 17,459. Risers hold 7,440 on the upper level and up to 7,741 on the lower level, with luxury suites adding another 1,160 seats.
The arena’s current primary tenants are the Seattle Storm of the WNBA and the Rat City Rollergirls of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). Seattle University’s men’s basketball team played in the arena from 1963-1980 and returned in 2008-2009 season.
KeyArena was once home to the NBA’s now defunct Seattle SuperSonics. On July 2, 2008, the Oklahoma City based ownership group of the SuperSonics reached a settlement deal with the City of Seattle, releasing the team from the last two years of their lease with the city and allowing the team to relocate to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 NBA season. The team became the Oklahoma City Thunder and the owners agreed to leave the SuperSonics name, logo, and colors in Seattle for a possible future NBA franchise.
It was also home to the Seattle Thunderbirds, a junior hockey team in the Western Hockey League. The Thunderbirds hosted the Memorial Cup in the Seattle Center Coliseum pre-KeyArena remodel in 1992.
KeyArena is the first publicly financed arena in the area fully supported by earned income from the building.
