I hadn’t actually seen Climate Pledge Arena (CPA) until the first Storm preseason game at the end of April. I used to live in Lower Queen Anne and was used to the “old” Key Arena: dark, cavernous, sterile, and cold from the outside.
Sue Bird was used to it, too.
The first time she walked into CPA for a Kraken game, “there was a little part of me that was sad,” she said. Sad because Key Arena had been Bird’s home court since she was drafted into the WNBA two decades ago.
As a new arena brings massive investment and support for the Seattle Kraken, the Storm is overshadowed.
by Maggie Mertens
You might think, based on the constant media coverage of Seattle’s new NHL team and the announcements carefully marketing what will soon be known as Climate Pledge Arena as “the future home of the Seattle Kraken” at seemingly every opportunity, that the renovated arena in Seattle Center will be used exclusively for the NHL team that has yet to play a single game.
In fact, a storied team will also make Climate Pledge Arena their home: the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. For the past three years I’ve followed the arena renovation news with interest because I can’t wait for the most successful sports team in Seattle history — which continues to win, by the way — to play in an arena worthy of their excellence.
Not many athletes can say they’ve brought four championship titles to one city, but thanks to a dominant performance in the WNBA Finals this week, Sue Bird can. While a championship-starved city like Seattle should be bowing at her feet, instead, her name is often lost in the shuffle of less-dominant male athletes when we talk about this city’s heroes.
Thousands of people lined the streets around Seattle Center for a parade and filled Key Arena for a rally Sunday, September 16, for the WNBA Champion Seattle Storm. The team traveled a short distance around the Seattle Center in trolley cars to the Key Arena, where they were greeted by the adoring fans and a few dignitaries including Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, and Washington Senator Maria Cantwell. Six-thousand people filled Key Arena and heard from the players and owners, watched highlights from the season, and cheered wildly when veteran Sue Bird said that she would be back next year for her 17th season.
