Lumen Field, the Seattle stadium that once registered a fan-induced quake | OneFootball

Lumen Field is famed for its noise. In January 2011 the stadium’s eruption was strong enough to be recorded as a tremor as Seattle Seahawks fans celebrated a decisive touchdown.

According to L'Équipe, the moment came during a play-off game against the New Orleans Saints. Marshawn Lynch, nicknamed The Beast, stormed 67 yards to the end zone to seal a 41-36 win, a feat that helped define his legacy before the club claimed their first Super Bowl two years later.

The run lasted 15 seconds and he shed nine tackles. More than 66,000 supporters roared, stomped and whistled, and the noise carried for kilometres, registering magnitude 2 on the Richter scale.

The West Coast of the United States is densely monitored for seismic activity because it lies between the Pacific and North American plates, with California’s San Andreas fault a reference point. The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network runs numerous stations, and the UW KDK site, one block from Lumen Field, captured the reading.

Similar episodes have since been logged at the stadium, including during the Seattle Sounders’ MLS Cup final against Toronto on 10 November 2019. Dubbed “Rave Quakes”, none matched the frenzy of that 2011 moment, which entered folklore as the “Beast Quake”.

Source: L'Équipe