12 Angry Fans

It’s Super Bowl time, which means I’ve been thinking a lot about football. When I stop thinking about football, the TV, radio, interwebs machines remind me that I should be thinking about football.

One of the things that I’ve been thinking about is how the city of Seattle produces such fanatical sports fans.

I love Seattle, I have close family living in the Seattle area, I have visited the city many times, and it’s one of my favorite cities in the world. I can also tell you that it is NOT a sports town. This is not a slight on Seattle sports fans. They are some of the best sports fans in the world. According to the Guinness Book of World Records they are also the loudest. Early in December of 2013, a sound level of 137.6 Db was measured at a Seattle Seahawks home game. As a comparison, standing within 100 feet of a jet engine is 140 Db.

PHOTO SOURCE: Flickr/Philip Robertson — PHOTO SOURCE: Flickr/Philip Robertson

And it’s not just Seahawks fans. A friend at Major League Soccer tells me that the Sounders, Seattle’s professional soccer team, is known for having one of the largest and most loyal fan bases in the league. The Mariners have had one of the worst attendance records in baseball for the last 10 years so they may be an exception to my theory but it's important to note that all of baseball saw a decrease in attendance in 2013 compared to 2012 while the Mariners saw an increase.

I’d talk about basketball except Seattle lost their basketball team in 2009. This brings me to my point. Seattle, as a whole, has not made catering to professional sports teams a priority. We’re talking about a city that did everything in its power to prevent the Seahawks from getting their new (loud) stadium, even though it would have meant the Seahawks leaving for a more hospitable home. Some Seattle residents even sued to stop the construction of the stadium after the state of Washington and billionaire Paul Allen agreed to cover most of the costs. The final stadium agreement to keep the Seahawks in the city only passed with the support of 50.8% of voters.

PHOTO SOURCE: http://grantland.com/features/chris-hansen-gary-payton-shawn-kemp-new-supersonics-mean-old-sacramento-kings/ — PHOTO SOURCE: http://grantland.com/features/chris-hansen-gary-payton-shawn-kemp-new-supersonics-mean-old-sacramento-kings/

So how does a city that has been a somewhat hostile environment for professional sports franchises generate rabid fan bases? Because it’s a hostile environment.

There is theory within the social sciences that minority groups tend to have stronger senses of identity than the majority. Experiments back this up. A study done by the economists Uri Gneezy and John List found that liberal donors living in “red” states were much more likely to donate to a liberal cause they knew other liberals were donating to, than their liberal counterparts in more traditionally Democratic states. Living if a place where you feel at odds with the ruling power makes you much more likely to act in accordance with the few others who are like you.1

“The Seahawks are doing well now and I couldn’t be happier for the fans because it’s been rough for them,” one Seattleite explained to me. “For years, while their team fought for respect on field, they were fighting for respect off the field. It’s created this real die hard culture.”

I’m a Broncos fan (GO BRONCOS!) so I won’t be rooting for the Seahawks on super Bowl Sunday but the Seahawks do teach an important lesson. The most hostile environment can produce the strongest substance. If Seattle can create some of the most loyal and loud fans maybe your next target audience is some place you least expect it.

To quote Dr. Gneezy and Dr. List:
“Birds who aren’t of a feather shriek louder.”

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