What's happened to our home field advantage?

[River Dog]

Not counting the empty stadium season of 2020, the Seahawks are just 19-19 at home dating back to 2019. Even the 2019 team, as narrowly close as they were to winning the NFC West, were 4-4 at home with losses to the Teddy Bridgewater-led New Orleans Saints and a lopsided loss to the 5-10-1 Arizona Cardinals. The 2017 Seahawks were better on the road (5-3) than at home (4-4).

Alright, so Geno Smith had something to say about the Buffalo Bills seemingly having as many – or more – fans at Lumen Field this past weekend as the Seattle Seahawks did. Actually, what he said was: “Their fans travel well. It was real loud in there, it kind of felt like we were on the road at times.”

That’s the first time I’ve heard a Seahawk mention it this season, but it’s been an active discussion on Seahawks Reddit for weeks. This Redditor called out season ticket holders for selling their seats to the San Francisco 49ers game, and this Redditor begged the same question after the Buffalo Bills game.

Pat McAfee (for what it’s worth) even had something to say about it: “Do you think they’ve given up hope over there in Seattle?”

So, what gives? Is this a problem? Are more season ticket holders selling off their seats than years prior? My family has been season ticket holders for the duration (since 1975), and I’ve gotta say that it looks pretty much the same to me. If the Seahawks are having a good season (playing well/exciting), you’ll see more 12s and fewer opposing fans in the stadium. When the road is bumpy and confusing, you’ll see an uptick of opposing fans filling the seats.

Mike Macdonald echoed this sentiment when asked about opposing fans on Monday: “We have to win. We’ve got to win, period. Opposing fans won’t want to show up if we’re consistently kicking butt and doing what we’re supposed to do.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/wh ... 6b65&ei=21

I can personally attest that the atmosphere at Seahawk home games isn't nearly what it was back in the LOB days. Some of it has to do with the predominance of the secondary ticket market, with vendors like Stub Hub, Ticketmaster, Vivid Seats, and others. People can make money by buying season tickets then re-selling them on the secondary market.

Back when I had Seahawk season tickets in the late 80's/early 90's, if you couldn't go to the game yourself, you had to mail them at least several days in advance of a game to get them to who ever wanted to buy them, usually another Seahawk fan. You didn't buy season tickets unless you were sure that you could go to the games or give/sell them to someone who could. You hardly ever saw opposing team's fans at a game. Nowadays, there are situations where the venue has more visiting fans than home team fans.

[Aseahawkfan]

We haven't been real contenders for a while and Washington State population has grown with people from other states that aren't Seahawk fans.

Seahawks fans are the most loyal for Washington State, but Washington State sports fans aren't as numerous as some bigger markets. We have that West Coast mostly follow when they're winning mentality like California.

[4XPIPS]

Well to think we finished most of these seasons with a winning record and home record was 500, didn't realize that.

[River Dog]

We haven't been real contenders for a while and Washington State population has grown with people from other states that aren't Seahawk fans.

Seahawks fans are the most loyal for Washington State, but Washington State sports fans aren't as numerous as some bigger markets. We have that West Coast mostly follow when they're winning mentality like California.

I don't think migration is a factor. All during the 70-'s-90's', Washington state has gained population from other areas of the country. I can vividly remember the slogans from the times: "Don't Californiaize Washington." We've always had an inbound migration. We gained an extra electoral vote in 2010. If anything, inbound migration has slowed down.

IMO there are two factors: The rise of the secondary ticket markets and the team's gradual descend into the abyss. It's going to take some time or something really special to turn things around.

[4XPIPS]

IMO there are two factors: The rise of the secondary ticket markets and the team's gradual descend into the abyss. It's going to take some time or something really special to turn things around.

I think "abyss" is a little harsh. We were a good team and still are, and had winning seasons, but not an elite team, or dynasty for that matter. We sure weren't a dumpster fire to say the least. However, I don't disagree that secondary ticket sales have an effect. I have been in the sales industry for nearly 27 years, and I do believe there is a price for everything. When the Superbowl came to Arizona early 2023, I would never think to rent my own home out for that event. The thought of handing the keys to my house to total strangers was a crazy idea. But when I saw what people were getting for the week rental rates on AirB&B, I handed my keys over to an AirB&B management firm and made pretty decent chunk of change for that week.

[Aseahawkfan]

Mediocrity is almost worse than being bad. At least if you're a lousy team, you can look forward to drafting high and getting some good players. When you're middling, you don't do much in the playoffs and your draft is middle picks as well.

[River Dog]

Mediocrity is almost worse than being bad. At least if you're a lousy team, you can look forward to drafting high and getting some good players. When you're middling, you don't do much in the playoffs and your draft is middle picks as well.

That's why I used a harsh term like abyss. When you've had a taste of some really good teams then follow it up with a bunch of mediocre ones, it's not that much better for fans than terrible franchises like the Jets and Browns.

[River Dog]

IMO there are two factors: The rise of the secondary ticket markets and the team's gradual descend into the abyss. It's going to take some time or something really special to turn things around.

However, I don't disagree that secondary ticket sales have an effect. I have been in the sales industry for nearly 27 years, and I do believe there is a price for everything. When the Superbowl came to Arizona early 2023, I would never think to rent my own home out for that event. The thought of handing the keys to my house to total strangers was a crazy idea. But when I saw what people were getting for the week rental rates on AirB&B, I handed my keys over to an AirB&B management firm and made pretty decent chunk of change for that week.

I think it's had a huge effect, and not just with our franchise. I've gone to a lot of road games over the years, including to Atlanta a couple weeks ago, and each place we go, even in down years the 12's are well represented. Mobile, transferrable tickets have had a big effect, too. It used to be that you had to send paper tickets by snail mail if you couldn't go to a game. Now, if your cousin in San Francisco wants to come up here for a game, it takes just a matter of seconds to send him your ticket.

AirBnb's are fantastic, especially if you're traveling with a group. It's given the hotel industry some competition, forces them to keep their prices somewhat reasonable.

[NorthHawk]

With any team in any sport there are bandwagon jumpers who disappear when the going gets tough. In large markets it might be less noticeable because there are so many locals that just want to see their team play in person but in Seattle, away from the large concentration of major markets like the East Coast, it's more noticeable. But even that happens over there after a long period of time when the pool of people who haven't seen the team live starts to dry up. In Seattle it doesn't seem to be any one thing to drive people to the game. If we had a new version of the LoB or a dominating Offense where we pushed other teams around and dominated the LoS, it might be different because that would give us a constant potential to win.
However, the last 7 or 8 years have seen us slide into irrelevance and teams don't fear coming to Seattle to face a team that is very good on at least one side of the ball.
So season ticket holders take advantage of getting rid of their game tickets to help pay down the yearly costs and keep their spot for when the team gets on an upturn again.