Seattle Sports and Concert Events

Seattle

Seattle is the largest city in the U.S. state of Washington, and in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, with a total estimated population of 569,101. Seattle is sometimes referred to as the "rainy city", even though it gets less rain than many other U.S. cities. It has also been called Jet City, due to the heavy influence of Boeing. Its official nickname is the Emerald City. Seattle is known as the home of grunge music, has a reputation for heavy coffee consumption, and was the site of the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization shut down by demonstrators. Most of the Denny Party, the most prominent of the area's early white settlers, arrived at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. They relocated their settlement to Elliott Bay in April, 1852. The first plats for the Town of Seattle were filed on May 23, 1853. The city was incorporated in 1869, after having existed as an incorporated town from 1865 to 1867. Seattle was named after Noah Sealth, chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes, better known as Chief Seattle. David Swinson ("Doc") Maynard, one of the city founders, was the primary advocate for naming the city after Chief Seattle. Previously, the city had been known as Duwamps. Among the landmarks of Seattle, the Space Needle is possibly Seattle's most famous landmark, dating from the 1962 Century 21 Exposition, a World's Fair. The Seattle monorail line constructed for the Exposition still exists today between Seattle Center and Downtown, though the trains have been idle since spring 2004 due to a Memorial Day fire. Other famous landmarks include the Smith Tower, Pike Place Market, the Fremont Troll, the Experience Music Project, the new Seattle Central Library, and the Bank of America Tower, which is the fourth tallest skyscraper west of the Mississippi River and the twelfth tallest in the nation. Seattle is a significant center of the performing arts. The century-old Seattle Symphony Orchestra is among the world's most-recorded orchestras. The Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet are comparably distinguished, with the Opera being particularly known for its performances of the works of Richard Wagner and the PNB School (founded in 1974) ranking as one of the top three ballet training institutions in the United States. Postsecondary education in Seattle is dominated by the University of Washington. It has over 36,000 students, making it the largest university in the Pacific Northwest. Most prominent of the city's other universities are Seattle University, a Jesuit school, and Seattle Pacific University, founded by the Free Methodists. There are also a handful of smaller schools, mainly in the fine arts and business and psychology. Seattle is also served by North Seattle, Seattle Central, and South Seattle Community Colleges. Seattle's leading newspapers are the daily Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the weekly Stranger and Seattle Weekly. It is also served by several ethnic newspapers and numerous neighborhood newspapers. It is also well served by television and radio. Its major network television affiliates are KOMO 4 (ABC), KING 5 (NBC), and KIRO 7 (CBS). Leading radio stations include KIRO-AM 710, KOMO-AM 1000, KUOW-FM 94.9, KNHC-FM C-89.5, and KPLU-FM 88.5. Numerous professional sports teams play in Seattle. Most prominent are the Seattle Mariners (baseball), the Seattle Seahawks (football), and the Seattle SuperSonics (basketball). The Seattle Storm (women's basketball), the Seattle Thunderbirds (hockey), and the Seattle Sounders (men's and women's soccer) also call Seattle home. In addition, the University of Washington, Seattle University, and Seattle Pacific University field teams in a variety of sports, most notably football and basketball.