If you’ve haven’t heard yet — either in the news or on the ground in Seattle — CenturyLink Field gets noisy during Seahawks games. Like, record-setting, earthquake-causing noisy.
But why is it louder than any other stadium in the world? What exactly is it that creates those ear-splitting noise levels?
Of course, part of it is the pure passion and craziness of rabid Seahawks fans who stand all game screaming at the top of their lungs.
But another aspect of it is the architecture of CenturyLink itself. When the stadium was built back in 2002, Seahawks owner and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen wanted to recreate the feeling he had as a kid attending college games at the University of Washington’s Husky Stadium, which has also set noise records of its own.
So architects designed CenturyLink with a roof that covers about 70 percent of the attendees — protecting most fans from rain, but perhaps more importantly, bouncing a ton of crowd noise back to the field.
They also installed hard surface materials that did not absorb sound. In addition, CenturyLink was built on a smaller site than other NFL stadiums, which forced architects to push seats closer together.
The noise level, which typically adds at least a point to betting spreads in Seattle’s favor, has helped the Seahawks force opponents into 132 false starts since 2005, the most in the NFL. The Hawks also have the second-best record at home since CenturyLink was built and have yet to lose a playoff game at home since 2004.
Of course, that could change when the San Francisco 49ers come to town Sunday for a 3:30 p.m. NFC Championship showdown. But if the Hawks come out victorious, you can certainly credit the 12th Man for helping propel its team to a second Super Bowl appearance.
