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Will Seahawk Mania Steal Attention from Husky Stadium's New Era Season?
Hardcore_Husky
Administrator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 304 
Will Seahawk Mania Steal Attention from Husky Stadium's New Era Season?
Back in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s, the Seahawks and Huskies both enjoyed support from rabid fan bases. It was a real rarity for a major metropolitan city, But these days, as Seahawk mania sweeps the region, can the Huskies compete with their new stadium?
Comments
I enjoyed the piece, Derek (thanks for writing it), although I would underscore a couple other factors that negatively impact Husky Football attendance (besides the Seahawks). The first is that UW grads over the past decade have only seen crap on the field. I remember my fraternity brothers and I purchasing season tickets en bloc after we graduated. Why? Because the team was good. Not so anymore. If anything, UW grads in their 20s and early 30s are more drawn to the basketball team because the football team sucks.
Second would be a changing demographic - specifically, the rapid rise in popularity of the Sounders. People have a limited amount of dollars & time to commit to sporting events, and now we're competing with a new soccer fanbase that didn't exist ten years ago.
In these two video clips, watch the amount of people seated in the west endzone. It was full.
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Soccer is for Euro wannabe hipster douches that hate actual sports.
Football is not competing with soccer for attendance. It's two totally different market segments.
And crisp was right! Must have been pre-global climate warming.
On December 24th, 1983, the closest available weather station to Seattle, WA (SEATTLE BOEING FIELD, WA), reported the following conditions:
High Temp: 27.1F
Low Temp: 11.1F
Average Temp: 19.4F
Dewpoint: -4.3F
Wind Speed: 4.9 Knots
Precipitation Amount: 0 Inches
Snow Depth: n/a
Observations: n/a
I know plenty of people that like soccer and football. Why do you take the 1950s views that they're mutually exclusive? In fact, I would argue that American football has more in common with soccer than baseball. You want to know the other sport that is beginning to draw youth attention away from football? Lacrosse: http://www.washingtonhslax.com/history/. Lacrosse is HUGE on the east coast, and it's expanding across the country.
Another thing to consider - injuries. People that grew up playing football NOW want their kids to play soccer or lacrosse or any number of other sports. The rash of injuries (particularly permanent brain damage) has a lot of people to nudging their kids in a different direction. Plenty of parents that love football are taking their kids to Sounders games because either a) they enjoy the sport, b) they want their kids to prefer soccer, or c) both.
And if you still think that soccer is limited to "Euro wannabe hipster douches," I suggest you strap on your overalls and read this: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/sports/soccer/29sandomir.html?_r=0 or this: http://www.businessinsider.com/soccer-popularity-2012-9
Per my original point, the lines are becoming blurred. Football will remain popular in the United States as far as the eye can see. We all love it (and I love it much more than soccer). But it's ignorant to say there is no cross pollination between fans of the two sports.
Soccer isn't hurting UW attendance, UW is hurting UW attendance. Portland has a much bigger per capita soccer loving population than Seattle, yet the Ducks are the hottest ticket in the state. Somehow they managed to sell out last year when the Timbers were competing for their $'s
The Huskies will get attention if they are winning.
The Sounders will get attention if they are winning.
Shit, I'm sure even the Mariners could pull 30K to their games if they were winning.
People like winners. They want to pay to see winners play. It's a simple formula.
And yes, some people like to watch more than one sport. I loved watching my Blackhawks take Lord Stanley's Cup this year.
What's now happening with the Seahawks was I believe always inevitable once or if the planets aligned to give Seattle fans what they've always deserved in pro football entertainment. It's truly disappointing and in so many ways disgusting that the Husky Football which once crammed our old crumpling stadium with rabid Dawgfans was trashed and thrown away by our university for no good reason, but that's were we are......... hoping and praying against hope that an overpaid head-coach-in-training will someday find the way for busting the Purple and Black (Gold appears to be dead) out of 7-6 mediocrity. I know that some of you youngsters must be thinking that the timing of what's going on at Montlake versus the Klink must be most unfortunate, but I believe Seahawk success was always inevitable. It has to be that we as associated with a football disinterested university are our own worst enemy.
Be thankful, all of you. In collegiate athletics, our favorite game of football is for the University of Washington like many other "big schools" the sole source of revenue available for operating and facilitating an entire athletic department of Pac-12 magnitude. If this were not the case and regardless of what the Seahawks do or don't do, we would not be dedicating a new Husky Stadium against Boise State on August 31, but looking forward to our Big Game against Idaho State or some other small college at Denny Field.
I was arguing with the assertion by man boobs that soccer and football draw a completely different group of people, and that soccer is limited to some fringe segment of society.
However, if UW football remains mired in mediocrity, people will consider other options for their entertainment dollars.
And I'd like to see figures for Damone's assertion that Portland has a "larger per capita soccer loving population than Seattle." Besides, per capita doesn't matter. It's sheer numbers that matter.
Sadly, soccer is no longer a fringe sport because more and more of our society loves orange slices and juice boxes.
And your suggestion that soccer is for people that like "orange slices and juice boxes" is yet another example of ignorance. Basically you're saying that soccer is not a competitive sport. Frankly, I don't really like watching soccer (except for the World Cup), nor do I like it when players pretend to be hurt by falling on the ground and writhing in pain. It turns my stomach. But that is different than saying it's not competitive, or physically demanding.
Try to think a little more before posting. Just a suggestion.