Hawks supporters all over are sporting their colours ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII this weekend and nowhere is the buzz more fever-pitched than in Seattle itself.
“I have never seen the city as excited as it is right now for the Seahawks. The only thing I can compare it to is back in 2011 when you guys were in the Stanley Cup,” said John Repp with Seattle’s KOMO Newsradio.
“You can’t walk into a sports bar, a restaurant, even a church without finding some kind of a Seahawks party,” he tells News1130.
“I was in Vancouver for a little bit during the [Stanley] Cup run and you could see flags and decals and banners just about everywhere. There’s a similar feel here; you will see the number 12 everywhere you look. It’s even lit up in buildings with the windows forming ’12.’”
The number signifies Seattle’s infamous “12th man,” collectively the fans who make CenturyLink Field the loudest, most raucous venue in the entire National Football League.
“I have been hearing from ticket sellers all around the country that there are more Seahawks fans heading to New Jersey for the Super Bowl than Denver Broncos fans. There could be a home field advantage even in the Super Bowl when you have that number of Seahawks fans who love to get loud and love to cheer their team on,” chuckles Repp.
Many of those Seahawks fans will be from BC, with members of “12 North” hitting the road to add their support to the team at the Super Bowl.
Ticket resellers like StubHub estimate three per cent of Super Bowl seats have gone to Canadians, with the majority of those snapped up by local fans.