Playing a road game in the NFL can be a daunting task. With only eight home games per season, NFL fans are among the most passionate in all of professional sports and make the stadium experience very uncomfortable for visiting teams.
A tour of the NFL’s Loudest Stadiums
The Seahawks’ CenturyLink Field and its “12th Man” top our rankings of the NFL’s loudest stadiums.
Otto Greule Jr
The construction of the stadium and the intensity of the crowds creates a significant home field advantage in the NFL. Over the last five seasons, home teams have won 58 percent of games and last year three teams finished unbeaten at home (Patriots, Saints, Bengals). It's almost common law in the NFL that you have to take care of business at home, especially against divisional opponents, if you want to make the playoffs.
An amped-up crowd can create so many obstacles for a visiting team trying to relay audibles and snap counts at the line of scrimmage. We see it every week in the numerous false-start penalties and 12-men on-field infractions that teams are flagged for during games. While a loud crowd isn’t solely responsible for these mistakes, the intensity and passion of the fans can definitely make a difference in how efficiently a visiting team can run its offense.
Here’s a look at our top five loudest NFL stadiums:
1. CenturyLink Field, Seattle, WA
Seahawks fans have definitely earned themselves the nickname of "12th Man."
Last season the team set a Guinness World Record as the loudest outdoor sports stadium, with the crowd noise registering at 137.6 decibels during a win over the New Orleans Saints on Dec. 2. To put that number in perspective, a jet engine 100 feet away is about 140 decibels. The noise generated by the crowd was loud enough to trigger a minor earthquake in the region, per a local research group.
According to the team’s website, the Seahawks lead the NFL in opponent false start penalties since 2005, and last year no team had a larger difference in opponent false start penalties generated at home (12) versus on the road (5).
While the team has overall been one of the most successful in the league since 2010, much of that is due to their significant homefield advantage. Over the last five seasons, the Seahawks have a 25-8 record at home in the regular season compared to just 14-19 on the road, the third-largest home/road differential in that span.
2. Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO
The record that the Seahawks broke last December was originally set by the Chiefs in a win over the Raiders two months earlier on Oct. 13, when the crowd noise was recorded at 137.5 decibels. Chiefs fans create a sea of red at Arrowhead, where the most popular chant is "we're going to beat the hell out of you, you, you."
Last season they had 13 opponent false start penalties at home, the second-most in the league, and have generated at least 10 of them in four of the last five seasons. The Chiefs won their first five home games last year in dominating fashion, winning by an average of nearly 10 points per game.
3. University of Phoenix Stadium, Phoenix, AZ
The Cardinals have not given their fans in Arizona much to cheer about with just three playoff appearances since the team moved west prior to the 1988 season. But that doesn't mean they aren't among the most passionate and loudest fans in the league.
Over the last five seasons, no team has a greater difference between its home and road record than the Cardinals, who are 21-12 at home and 9-24 on the road since 2010. The Cardinals fans have caused tons of problems for visiting teams, as they’ve ranked in the top-5 in opponent false start penalties at home in each season from 2010-13, including an NFL-best 18 in 2010.
4. Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, LA
The Superdome has long been considered one of the toughest places to play and one of the reasons is the deafening crowd noise that seems on the verge of blowing through the roof at any time.
One week after the Seahawks set the record for the noisiest outdoor stadium last December, the Saints tried to break the indoor record in their home game against the Panthers on Dec. 8. The effort fell just short, however, with the crowd noise registering 122.6 decibels, four shy of the record of 126 set at a Sacramento Kings basketball game Nov. 15, 2013.
The Saints may have started this season 0-2, but don’t count them out of the playoffs yet, as both of those losses came on the road. The Saints have posted perfect home records in two of the last three seasons, and their home/road win percentage differential since 2010 is the fifth-largest in the league.
5. Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI
How can you not include legendary Lambeau Field in a list of the loudest NFL stadiums? Packers fans are known as some of the rowdiest in all of pro sports, and their passion only increases when the temperature drops and the winds start sweeping through the stadium.
Over the last five seasons, only the Patriots have a better record at home than the Packers, who have also barely won half their road games in that span. The ear-splitting crowd noise was a key part of their Week 2 win against the Jets, as the Packers rallied from an early 18-point deficit thanks to a ill-timed timeout call by the visitors when the Jets were poised to take the lead in the final minutes.
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