Best Sports Bars in Seattle

Seattle is a one-conference-finals-or-better sports city. The Seahawks' 2013 and 2014 Super Bowl runs created an infrastructure for sports watching that has not scaled back. Pioneer Square and SoDo run on stadium proximity: Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park sit within a half-mile of each other, and the bars that fill between them on game days function as pre-game extensions of the venues themselves.

Capitol Hill's sports bar scene is more selective, mixing craft beer programs with game-day volume. The best Seattle sports bars share one quality: they understand that watching sport is a social ritual, not just a viewing experience. If the game is over and you are looking for a different kind of evening, our guide to Seattle cocktail bars covers the city's best craft cocktail destinations.

Leny's is the obvious choice near the stadium. The Mecca Cafe is the sentimental choice near KeyArena. Flatstick Pub is the fun choice. The Rail is where you go to watch a weekday morning game with a view. Shorty's is where the scene goes when they want to be among pinball machines and people they like. For after the game, Seattle's best after work bars include several options close to Pioneer Square that transition easily from game-day mode to a more relaxed evening atmosphere.

This list includes bars built for the 2013 Super Bowl run and bars that have been serving games since before Seattle had professional football. All of them matter to the city's sports culture. All of them will be loud on Seahawks Sunday. Seattle's craft beer scene is among the most developed in the US, and many of the best taprooms and craft bars here double as exceptional sports viewing destinations.