A Key Part of Seattle is Missing

When the Seattle Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder, a lot of sports fans were devastated.  While Seattlites were understandably upset that their hometown basketball team was leaving for OKC, even non-Seattle natives seemed unreasonably critical of the move.  While I felt bad for Sonics fans - I certainly wouldn't want one of my favorite teams, like the Islanders, to move - I didn't exactly understand why this was such a big deal.  For one, sports teams move fairly regularly - this was hardly the first time a professional team left town, and isn't even new to Seattle (the Pilots left the city to become MLB's Milwaukee Brewers a few decades earlier).  Additionally, Seattle still has an MLB team, an NFL team, a rapidly growing MLS franchise and a consistently-competitive WNBA club.

Then again, until this weekend I had never been to Seattle, and thus couldn't understand why losing the Supersonics was such a big deal to the city.  On the way to downtown from the SeaTac airport, we passed by Century Link (formerly Qwest) and Safeco Fields, homes of the NFL's Seahawks / MLS's Sounders and MLB's Mariners, respectively.  While these looked like nice venues (we only drove past via the highway), they were, like many new stadiums, far from the city's downtown.  Later in our first day, though, we walked by Key Arena, the former home of Seattle's now-defunct NBA franchise, and I realized why losing the Sonics was such a blow to Seattlites.

Unlike Safeco and Century Link, Key Arena is part of a beautiful area in the heart of the city.  Located within close walking distance to the Space Needle, the venue is part of a much larger cultural complex that includes the EMP Museum of Music, Sci-Fi and Pop Culture, the Seattle Opera House and Symphony theater, the Pacific Science Center and a number of other cultural landmarks.  The area of the city surrounding the Space Needle is entirely dedicated to artistic exploration, with buildings dedicated to music, theater, science and technology, TV and movies and other artistic forms all connected by beautiful walkways, green spaces and public art displays.  Seattle has one of the nicest cultural centers that I've ever seen in a U.S. city, and Key Arena is right smack in the middle of it all.

From the Space Needle you can see that Key Arena is in the middle of Seattle's cultural hub.

When the Sonics played at Key Arena, Seattle was (perhaps unintentionally) making a statement that sports deserve to be considered an art form.  Fans attending a basketball game could spend an afternoon wandering through museums, enjoying the surrounding public parks and mingling with music, cinema and science afficionados in addition to traditional sports fans.  While the Mariners and Seahawks have beautiful new venues, what Key Arena seemingly lacks in ammenities (I can't really say - I've never been inside), it makes up for with a great location and culturally-relevant neighbors.  While to an outsider the loss of the Sonics might seem like no big deal, after spending time around the area I can understand why the team's departure was so hard to swallow.  If Seattle does get a new indoor arena someday, I really hope it's built right on top of the current Key Arena site.  There's no better opportunity for the city of Seattle to proclaim to the country that it not only loves basketball, but considers the game a form of true artistic expression.