The Seahawks’ first season under coach Mike Macdonald was one of the strangest in the franchise’s 49-year history.
En route to a 10-7 record, the Seahawks went 7-1 on the road — tying for the most road wins in team history, while going just 3-6 at Lumen Field.
It was only the third time the Seahawks lost more games than they won at Lumen Field since it opened in 2002, the stadium long ago earning a reputation as one of the most inhospitable for opposing teams in the NFL.
“It’s great to be 7-1 on the road, but we’ve got to make this place a nightmare for teams that come in and play us and utilize our fans and the crowd and the 12s and kind of the whole ’12 is 1′ mantra,” Macdonald said two days after the end of the season. “We’ve really got to make that come to life when we’re at Lumen (Field), so that’s going to be a major focus for us this offseason.”
In one step toward to assuring the team has the best home-field advantage possible, the Seahawks have re-emphasized to season-ticket holders that their tickets can be revoked if their sole purpose for having them is to resell them.
The Seahawks have included language regarding the rights of ticket holders and resale policies in the past.
Related More Seahawks
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) catches the ball over Buffalo Bills cornerback Rasul Douglas (31) during an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
Seahawks get visit from veteran cornerback Rasul Douglas
Seahawks are not for sale as owner puts Trail Blazers on the market
Seahawks waive former Cougar River Cracraft, sign two others | Notebook
But a recent reminder sent to fans on how to manage their season tickets once the full schedule is released on Wednesday made a point to specifically highlight the team’s resale policy and the ability of the team to revoke tickets.
“We are happy to provide the ability to resell your tickets through the NFL Ticket Exchange,” the announcement read. “While occasional resale is permitted, renewal eligibility may be impacted if it is determined that your tickets were primarily used for resale purposes. At the conclusion of each season, accounts that resell a majority of their season tickets will be contacted and given an opportunity to respond before any renewal eligibility decisions are made.”
The Seahawks, who have sold out 180 consecutive games when including playoffs dating to the 2003 season, are not going after fans who occasionally sell a few tickets each season.
What the Seahawks are trying to go after is those who buy the tickets solely to resell them.
That’s become an increasingly lucrative business as the NFL continues to gain in popularity and ticket prices rise, especially in cities with successful teams such as Seattle, which is attractive for opposing fans to visit.
Opposing fans, of course, have always traveled to road games.
And it’s worth remembering that few fan bases are regarded as traveling as well as the Seahawks, with fans earning praise for years for turning some venues into virtual homes-away-from home, maybe most notably in Arizona.
But for much of the past decade or so, the visiting team presence at Lumen Field felt like more of a barely noticeable nuisance than an outright takeover.
That changed some last season, particularly when the Seahawks hosted two teams noted for their rabid fan bases — Buffalo and Green Bay.
An October visit by a Buffalo team that was a Super Bowl favorite was just the franchise’s third to Lumen Field. The so-called Bills Mafia didn’t miss the opportunity to let their collective voice be heard, particularly in the final moments as their team ran away with a 31-10 win.
“Hats off to Buffalo,” former Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith said afterward. “They came in and beat us at home. Their fans travel well. It was really loud in there and kind of felt like we were on the road at times.”
A mid-December game against a Green Bay team also headed to the playoffs turned out similarly. In Green Bay’s second visit to Seattle since the 2014 season, the so-called Cheeseheads packed the place, growing only louder as the visitors rolled to a 30-13 win.
“In the first quarter, second or third play of the game, it got crazy loud in there,” former Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf said a few days later. “I looked around and there were a lot of Green Bay fans. They did a great job traveling, but just wishing us 12s didn’t sell as many tickets as they did to make sure we kept the home-field advantage.’’
Of course, Smith and Metcalf benefited when Seahawks fans turned the tables on the road.
A week before the home loss to Buffalo, the Seahawks went into Atlanta and beat the Falcons 34-14, a game that ended with what appeared to be mostly Seahawks fans in the stands.
Most Read Sports Stories
“Shout out to all the 12s,” Macdonald said after the game. “That was cool. The rest of the 12s, they showed up. They were loud towards the end of the game. I thought that was really awesome.”
Therein lies the delicate dance.
As the Seahawks’ missive to their season-ticket holders noted, the league itself is in the resale business through its NFL Ticket Exchange run by TicketMaster.
And the Seahawks aren’t alone in trying to keep as many tickets in the hands of their fans as possible.
Detroit and Green Bay have also announced a renewed emphasis on cracking down on accounts that appear to exist solely to resell tickets.
Green Bay announced in February that “the organization declined to renew the season tickets of accounts that have sold 100 percent of their tickets for regular-season games for multiple years.”
A Detroit TV station reported in February that the Lions revoked the tickets of two fans who violated the team’s resale policy.
As players and coaches often note, the biggest factor in keeping the home fans from reselling tickets is winning and providing an incentive to attend the game rather than cash out.
“I feel bad for our fans not making the playoffs two years in a row,” general manager John Schneider said at the NFL scouting combine in February. “We’ve got to get Lumen rocking again. … We want to be able to get our home-field advantage back and win multiple championships for our fans.”
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta covers the Seahawks for the Seattle Times. He provides daily coverage of the team throughout the year.