Every NFL fan believes he or she cheers the loudest for his or her beloved team, but a group of Seattle Seahawks fan decided to make it official at last night’s 29-3 blowout against the visiting San Francisco 49ers.
The announced crowd of 68,338—itself a record for attendance at CenturyLink Field—roared its way into the Guinness World Record books toward the end of the first quarter with 131.9 decibels when DE Michael Bennett sacked Niners’ QB Colin Kaepernick for a nine-yard loss. The new record for “loudest crowd roar at a sports stadium” surpassed the crowd at Turkey’s Ali Sami Yen Sport Complex Turk Telekom Arena, which rang in at 131.76 decibels for a soccer match between Galatasaray SC and Fenerbahce back in 2011.
But Seattle’s 12th man wasn’t done yet: another defensive stand in the third quarter coaxed even more fury from the assembled masses, shattering their own record by nearly five full decibels with 136.6 dBs. Comparatively, that’s nearing the range of a jet engine at 100 feet , a threshold that could result in permanent hearing damage with prolonged exposure.
The record attempt, spearheaded by Seahawks fan group Volume 12, was verified by Guinness representative Phil Robertson, who was on hand. He acknowledged Seahawks fans’ ardor, comparative to the the previous record holders.
“There’s passionate people in soccer, but here you see veins bulging out of necks,” he said.
The Seahawks improve to 2-0 on the season, behind second-year starting QB Russell Wilson—who threw for 142 yards and a TD. Seattle remains the only undefeated team in the NFC West and welcome the Jacksonville Jaguars next week. The 49ers fall to 1-1 behind Kaepernick, also a second-year starter, and look to bounce back against Andrew Luck and the visiting Indianapolis Colts. Indy comes into The City by the Bay looking to do some bouncing back of their own, fresh off a stinging 24-20 home loss to Ryan Tannehill and the Miami Dolphins.