Popularity of Seattle Sports Teams

Who are the most popular teams in Seattle? Is it a football or Baseball Town? Popularity can be measured a variety of ways. IE TV ratings, attendance, merchandise sales, and sports radio attention.

My guess:

1. Seahawks
2. Mariners
3. College football team (Huskies)

Your choices?

Seahawks
Mariners
Sonics

Seahawks
Huskies
Sounders
Mariners

Hawks
UW
M's
Storm
Unamed hockey team

Hawks
UW football
Mariners
NHL hockey team

Seahawks and Huskies are easily #1 and #2. Part of that is the fewer games in football so each game seems more important, but even when our football teams are mediocre to bad there is still widespread interest.

It's hard to say much about the Mariners given how historically futile they have been. They are currently the professional US sports team with the longest playoff drought. The city was really into them for about two months in 1995 and 2001 which is also the only few months when they've done anything particularly good. Would Cincinnati still be a baseball town if the Reds missed the playoffs for the next twenty years straight?

The Sonics were very popular in the late 80s and 90s until they were (intentionally) horribly mismanaged. I think the new NHL team will have a similar sort of popularity but like the Sonics will be hampered by playing at Key Arena and will need to be competitive to be interesting to most Seattle residents.

Popularity of Seattle teams should be separated in at least two ways. Popularity of Seattle teams in the Seattle metro area vs. popularity of Seattle teams in the NW.
In the NW it would be Hawks #1 and Mariners #2 hands down.

Didn't the Mariners go to Oklahoma?

My impression based solely on how much they’re talked about on these boards:

1. Seahawks
2. Mariners
3. Uw football
4. Sounders
5 uw basketball

This has always been a football town imo. The Sonics had a very good fan base for decades and a lot of success.

1. Hawks
2. UW Football
3. Sonics (and yes I realize they have been gone a long time)
3. M's

Mariners, look around town, what gear is worn, Seahawks, Huskies, Sounders even Old Sonic gear, I see some Mariners hats and a few coats but they are dwarfed by everything else. That's even during the season.

In fact I will throw in Cougar gear ahead of Mariners in the Seattle area, license plates and everything is in higher volume for all the sports and Mariners coming in last.


It's no star power and nothing anyone is proud of as a franchise other then Griffey and Edgars induction recently.

1) Seahawks
2) Huskies
3) Mariners

1. Hawks
2. UW Football
3. Mariners
4. Sounders

SoulfishHawk":71gbwa6k said:

This has always been a football town imo. The Sonics had a very good fan base for decades and a lot of success.

1. Hawks
2. Sonics (and yes I realize they have been gone a long time)
3. M's
4. UW Football

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Very close to mine.
I'm going to put Mariners last though because of the skipping record syndrome.


1. Hawks
2. Sonics (and yes I realize they have been gone a long time)
3. UW Football
4. Seattle Slew
5. M's

chris98251":32x49vm4 said:

Seahawks
Huskies
Sounders
Mariners

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This.

I don't think the M's are as popular as the Sounders or Huskies right now...........and if they stink as much as everyone says they're going to stink during the next 2-3 years of the rebuild, you're going to see all time attendance lows at Safe.............err, I mean T. Mobile Park.

Being a Mariner fan in the early Kingdom years was hard. I still remember the celebration that resulted from having their first non-lossing season. Good players, that they could afford, were few in number. Most sports fans in Seattle don't even know who this is ................


Great command of his fastball, curveball, slider and splitter. Typically pitched a lot of innings because of his lively resilient arm. Terrific mental focus on his trade. With Seattle, rarely saw team mates support him with more than a run in any one game. Team mates frequently failed to support with any runs in many games. Perhaps the best of the Mariners hidden and unknown talents.

He signed for $100,000, reached the majors within a year and never had an arm injury. He has dealt with no aches or pains in retirement, he said, and even now, he throws batting practice three or four times a week at the high school — fastballs, curveballs, sliders, splitters. [urltargetblank]https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/04/sports/baseball/mlb-draft-pitchers.html[/urltargetblank]

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.............................................. just a reflection on my part that even during grim days in Seattle sports there have been terrific bright spots. I'll return you now to happy memories and to the ongoing popularity poll.

ive lived in Pennsylvania my whole life so maybe my perspective would be of interest as an outsider. I love the Hawks which pretty much got me into the Sonics. I don't have much interest in baseball to start but if people ask id say im a Mariners fan. But its only because of my interest in the other Seattle teams otherwise I kinda care less. and from the national perspective I hear far more about Hawks, UW football, and even the Sonics than I do the mariners.

Hawkstorian":27nduan2 said:

Didn't the Mariners go to Oklahoma?

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They decided it beat moving to Spokane... :mrgreen:

GeekHawk":3036l5sd said:

Hawkstorian":3036l5sd said:

Didn't the Mariners go to Oklahoma?

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They decided it beat moving to Spokane... :mrgreen:

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Incorrect, Spokane already has a AAA team.

Sgt. Largent":3nm8f64j said:

chris98251":3nm8f64j said:

Seahawks
Huskies
Sounders
Mariners

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This.

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Yep. This is how I would rank them as well.