Thirty years after the Seattle SuperSonics' only NBA championship — and the only one ever won by a Seattle major-league team — the area around KeyArena is deserted and the fans don't care.
It was an event that put Seattle on the sports map: Thirty years ago the Seattle SuperSonics snared the first major-league championship won by a Seattle team after an NBA Championship series win over the Washington Bullets. Jack Sikma, Dennis Johnson and "Downtown" Freddie Brown gave an emerging community a strong sense of identity.
Thirty years later and KeyArena — known as the Coliseum thirty years ago — has no NBA tenant. Local watering holes are closed down. And fans are more closely following the fortunes of the Seattle Mariners and the newest flavor, the Seattle Sounders.
A celebration marking the 30th anniversary of that championship failed to bring out many fans, to make things worse: bars expecting crowds of diehard fans sat mostly empty .
And that may be why no NBA team is busting the doors to return to Seattle. The Sonics were the major game in town for many years, but those days are gone. And there's no indication there's a large fan base waiting for the NBA to return.
Sign up for the free weekly Arena Digest newsletter and keep up with the latest happenings! You can sign up here.
Follow Arena Digest updates on Twitter!
