Since the heyday of the wave at the Kingdome in the the 1980s, the the Seahawks home crowd continued to gain national infamy.
It’s clear that fans still bring passion to games at Lumen Field, but has the crowd lost a little zip on it’s deep ball?
The number of Buffalo Bills fans — known as the Bills Mafia — who watched their team beat the Seattle Seahawks 31-10 at Lumen Field on Sunday, is unknown. But, it was enough to be visible — and audible.
“Hat’s off to Buffalo,” Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith said. “They came in, they beat us at home. Their fans travel well. It was real loud in there — it felt like we were on the road at times.”
The vibe was similar to Seattle’s 36-24 home loss to NFC West Division-rival San Francisco on Oct. 10, and has become more common in recent years. Once considered deadly at home, the Seahawks are 15-15 in their last 30 games in Seattle since the start of the 2021 season. Seattle went 47-17 combined at home during the prior eight seasons.
In comparison, Seattle has gone 14-15 on the road since 2021, meaning its road record is one win away from equaling the home record.
There are many factors involved, including strength of the team, quality of opponents at home and perhaps even some luck. Maybe it’s the rising ticket and parking costs that has priced out a few Seahawks fans who arrive at the stadium believing they are a part of the defense — the 12th man.
It could be that some season ticket holders sell off a couple of games in order to offset the overall cost. For example, on one secondary ticket-selling site, the lowest cost a pair of tickets to the Dec. 15 home game against Green Bay was listed at $404 as of Monday afternoon. If you’ve got $10,444, you can buy a pair on in Row B on a 40-yard line.
Whatever the reason, the crowds don’t seem quite as deafening for the visiting team as they were a few years ago. TV broadcasters haven’t brought out the decibel meter for a bit. It just seems a little off.
There’s no doubting that the Seahawks are deadly at home when they’re rolling. During the height of the Pete Carroll era, Seattle won 34 of 40 (85%) home games from 2012-2016 while going 22 of 40 (55%) on the road. Since then, the home vs. road record difference has been negligible.
For Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald, the fix is simple.
“We’ve got to win — period,” Macdonald said. “Opposing fans won’t want to show up if we’re consistently kicking butt and doing what we’re supposed to do. Our fans I think are doing a great job. And they’re sticking with us all the way through the end of the game.”
“We’re fighting, and they’re fighting with us. We have to do a better job of putting a product out there that they want to root really hard for.”
Categorized:Seahawks
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