The “12th man” in Seattle (the loudest crowd in professional sports or whatever you want to call it) is become a remarkable home field asset for the Seattle Seahawks. According to NBC’s (Pro Football Talk) Mike Florio, during Sunday night’s contest against the San Francisco 49ers, the crowd at Century Link Field set a record decidable reading for a professional sports event, reaching 131.9 decibels when defensive end Michael Bennett sacked Colin Kaepernick in the first quarter. The 12th man then broke their own record when the Seahawks made a goal line stand in the third quarter registering a 136.6 decibel reading. That’s incredibly loud considering:
- The loudest possible sound is 194 dB.
- A jet airplane at takeoff is 180 dB. At this same level, hearing tissue dies permanently.
- 160 dB is when ear drums blow.
- An unsuppressed gunshot is around 150 dB, depending on the firearm and ammunition.
- Being close to a passing train is 110 dB.
- Readings above 90 dB cause ear damage if exposure is long term.
- Conversational speech is about 60 dB.
Anything above 130 is considered to be the threshold of pain, meaning it literally hurts you to be listening to it.
Many critics say that because CenturyLink Field is a Dome (which it isn’t) and that the Seahawks pump in sound (which they deny, and the evidence shows nothing to support this) which makes the record faulty. This record has been certified and measured by the Guinness Book of World Records who does their due diligence making sure that their records are the real deal.
Before you go off on me for saying that the fans in Seattle aren’t the real “12th Man”, I know. The “real 12th man” belongs in College Station, Texas with Texas A&M University Football, who has actually sued the Seattle Seahawks over the use of the “12th man” name since A&M patented the phrase in 1990. The lawsuit was settled in 2006 allowing the Seahawks to continue to use the phrase while paying a license fee to the University.
Since Century Link Field opened in 2002, the Seahawks are 65-30 at home including the playoffs, good for a 68.4% winning percentage. In the 11 plus seasons they have only been below .500 twice (2002 and 2008) and have not lost a home game for an entire season three times (2003, 2005, and 2012). The all time NFL home winning percentage, as of the beginning of the 2013 season was 57.3% of the time.
So does Century Link Field home field advantage really make a difference, or have the Seahawks just had a decent decade plus of Football? As we saw this Sunday the crowd brought a dynamic San Francisco 49ers offense to their knees. So much of the 49ers offense (and all of the NFL offenses) rely so much on audibles and precise communication. The ferocious crowd at CenturyLink Field made communication impossible making a veteran San Francisco squad look like an inept pee wee offense.
Lets look at the data which never lies or has a homer bias. Below is a selection of the six best seasons posted by the Seahawks since they moved into CenturyLink Field in 2002.
Points Allowed – How many points the Seahawks gave up when playing their match up vs the listed team.
Opponents PPG – How many points per game that team averaged that season.
Difference – The difference between the two, showing how well (or bad) the Seahawks did compared to the season average.
In these six seasons, CenturyLink Field has been good for a 4.1 points per game advantage, that’s a crazy advantage. Seattle has been an above average team for the last decade. Most football games finish with the winning team leading by less than one score. To have a built in advantage of playing half their games in CenturyLink Field, has helped them be one of the better teams for over 12 years.
Look at the 2005 season where the Seahawks lost in the Super Bowl to the Steelers, their home field advantage was over eight points per game. Even more recently, last year their home field advantage was almost 10 points per game. Given, both of those teams were very good, but it is incredible what playing in Seattle does to opposing offenses.
While Seattle may not be the biggest market, nor have the most history, but it is may have the biggest home field advantage in all of professional sports.
