Why are Seahawks fans so insanely active and supportive compared to other teams?

Seahawks fans created the newsletter with more engagement and subscriptions per user than any other sports community on all of substack!

A week from now the 2025 Seahawks will either solidify their place among the most impressive seasons by any team in the last 25 years or they’ll have to deal with another heartbreaking Super Bowl finish against the Patriots, but one thing is for certain: The Seahawks have a unique fanbase that will show out in Santa Clara like few other teams can relate to in American sports.

When the Seahawks won the Super Bowl 12 years ago, it was estimated that more people showed up for the parade than actually live in Seattle. Whether it was the reported 700,000 people or a more conservative 450,000 as some allege, the Seahawks Super Bowl parade was the most-attended event in the history of the city; plus Seattle’s jersey sales that year ranked first in the NFL and that was the 12 months before winning the Super Bowl, with “#12 Fan” being the third-highest selling jersey in the ENTIRE LEAGUE in February of 2014.

Seahawks fans are built different.

(And by the way, in the last 15 years I’ve covered all 32 teams in some capacity, either generally covering the league or directly covering a non-Seahawks team, so I have one of the most unique perspectives on NFL fandom of anybody so I know of what I speak when I say Seahawks fans are different and it’s not just my bias making a total guess of how Seattle is compared to them.)

One of the things that endeared Pete Carroll to this community was how he embraced the “chip on my shoulder” mentality for building the roster because that is so fitting for the team tucked in a corner of the Northwest that is the furthest away from the rest of the NFL as any other team in the league.

Being ignored is known to cause psychological damage, but in the Seahawks case, the team and by extension the fans have found a way to WEAPONIZE those times they forget about Seattle.

Seriously, how many times in the last six weeks have national analysts picked the Seahawks to lose? Week 16 vs Rams? Picked to lose. Week 18 vs 49ers? Picked to lose. Division round vs 49ers? Often picked to lose. NFC Championship against Rams? Often picked to lose.

Not a subscriber yet? You could have a FREE daily Seahawks newsletter starting tomorrow:

That Seahawks “show up” mentality is as well reflected right here at Seaside Joe than as it is anywhere else on the Internet: The Seaside Joe community is THE MOST ACTIVE PER CAPITA of any sports newsletter on all of Substack. What are your theories as to why that is? Share them in the comments!

I’ll share my theories and what the numbers say:

Seaside Joe readers are 8x as likely to get a paid subscription and 3x as likely to comment as the average sports newsletter on Substack

According to Substack, Seaside Joe is the 73rd-ranked “bestseller” sports newsletter on the platform. 73rd? I’m not gonna scoff at that! I didn’t start at ESPN or a major metro newspaper and I’m not an NBA Hall of Famer. I’m just a guy who has spent the last 15 years writing about the Seahawks every day.

But the only reason I’m bringing it up is that it gives me a baseline to work from: Seaside Joe is 73rd among sports bestsellers. Okay, 73rd. That’s the baseline.

Now let’s compare our comment totals to the top sports newsletters (with up to 10x as many subscribers) at substack:

• The #1 sports bestseller is another Northwest writer, John Canzano’s “Bald Faced Truth” newsletter. His recent article on rumors of a Seahawks sale has 67 likes and 107 comments, which is great for a paywalled newsletter!

• #2 is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I’m not comparing myself to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

• #3 is Split-Zone Duo, which is mainly a podcast. I don’t know how to compare myself to a podcast and people don’t really comment on podcasts.

• #4 is Joe Posnanski, a very well known veteran sports writer. His last free article got 63 comments and 74 likes.

• #5 is Tyler Dunne’s “Go Long”, a Bills newsletter. His last long-ish free article got 8 comments. His most recent article got 1 comment. His last paid article got 6 comments. That is the closest comparison I have for a Seaside Joe-like newsletter in the top-5 of all sports newsletters and Go Long averages fewer than 10 comments per post.

I’m not bringing that up to come off as “Oh look how cool I am. Look how much better I am.” No. Tyler Dunne is well-known, he works hard, I’m sure he’s great at what he does and that Bills fans greatly appreciate his newsletter! I’m not competing with Dunne, I’m just interested in why there’s such a disaparity compared to certain metrics like comments and free-to-paid subcriptions, as Seaside Joe’s rate of paid members is exponentially higher than the average.

The only reason I bring this up is: Wow, relatively speaking, the Seaside Joe community is WILDLY ACTIVE and EXTREMELY ENGAGED! That’s awesome!

Post-game articles are up to 150+ comments without any help from me. Sunday’s post about Klint Kubiak figures to hit 100 comments too. An average article is usually over 50 comments these days and that is after we factor in that only paid members can leave comments. Our live chats have been over 1,000 comments in the playoffs and again that’s been limited to subscribers who pay $5 or $10.

By the way don’t miss out our Super Bowl Live Chat next Sunday!

How could two similar newsletters have such a major disparity in these two numbers: Substack reports that “Go Long” has over 36,000 total subscribers (that’s insanely good!) which is over eight times as many as Seaside Joe, but only a small fraction of the comments on every newsletter.

If Seaside Joe had 36,000 total subscribers, comments could reach 1,000 per newsletter. That’s not necessarily always a good thing — but what it means is that our “small” outfit is punching significantly above its weightclass and has been one of the industry leaders in that regard for quite some time.

This trend continues with every other sports newsletter between #6 and #72 (for example: #6 Pompliano one comment on his last article; #9 Cody Alexander with four comments; #13 Justin Rogers with 12 comments on a Lions post; #15 Christian Caple between 15-40 comments on recent posts; #26 Judah Fortgang with zero comments on articles) and it’s not just the number of comments but also…

The ratio of comments to subscribers.

For example, Chiefs blogger Seth Keysor (#29 in sports bestsellers) has similar comment numbers as we do but more than three times as many as subscribers as Seaside Joe. Therefore, Seaside Joe readers are 3x as likely to comment than an extremely popular Chiefs newsletter by an extremely talented Chiefs writer for an extremely successful team.

This goes in line with some stats I’ve shared in the past about how many people sign-up for a premium membership here compared to other Substack newsletters:

Almost 1 out of 4 of you are Regular Joes or Super Joes, meaning a paid subscription of nearly 25%. The Substack average? It’s about 3-percent. A free Seaside Joe subscriber is roughly 8 times more likely to become a paid member than the Substack norm!

Why is that? I have some theories:

• No Ads at Seaside Joe

• I’m not trying to trick you into signing up (no manipulation)

• It’s mostly FREE! (pay if you can!)

• Daily content (LITERALLY)

• Respect FOR the community and FROM the community

• Encouragement and Engagement

• Exceptionally affordable/bang for your buck

I’ve seen newsletters get sponsors and try to sell their already-paying readers more stuff…and stuff they don’t need! Stuff that the people selling don’t even use or endorse. In gambling’s golden age, I’m not taking any sponsorships.

Regular Joes and Super Joes get perks, but this newsletter is 99% free to read. You’d think that means fewer sign-ups, but I’ve found the opposite is true. Sign-up if you have the means and you just want to support the work we do here.

I’m also not trying to trick you into signing up, which is why I don’t have free trials. I don’t want people to pay because they forgot to cancel a free trial, that’s so annoying when that happens!

Today is the 2,525nd consecutive day that I’ve written at least one newsletter about the Seahawks and oftentimes there is bonus content. That type of email harrassment probably turns some people off but if you don’t mind it, that leads to a great bang for your buck! $5 for 30-50 newsletters worth of Seahawks per month!

I’ve also noticed that the comments are almost universally POSITIVE. Where else can you find that ANYWHERE on the Internet about ANY subject? People who respect each other, are nice to each other, are nice to the content creator, and they keep the conversations going like that even when we disagree.

I encourage you all to join the comments and you know I’ll jump right in there with you too. I’ve always said that the collective knowledge of our community is more than I could ever learn in a lifetime.

I’ve been “in the comments” of Seattle sports teams for over 20 years and I can say that Seaside Joe’s community is a step in the evolution that I’m proud to be a member of myself. Just hit this if you want to be a member of it too:

Speaking of the comments. Let’s take more questions about Seahawks-Patriots from our Super Joes Q&A. Click here if you want to be a part of the next Super Joes Q&A:

Bret: If you can find, or offer one, I'd appreciate an assessment of our interior offensive line versus the interior of the Patriots' d-line. I think we're in for a long, long day between the tackles. Maybe you have some analytics or stat links, SSJ? I'm pretty worried about our ability to hold up in the middle.

You mentioned that Doug Farrar happened to write about this on Field Gulls and far be it from me to copy Farrar when I can just copy/paste Farrar:

Bradford will have his work cut out for him to an extreme degree, because what the Pats do with their interior defensive linemen is some disturbingly sick stuff. Milton Williams and Christian Barmore are the starters, while Cory Durden and Khyiris Tonga provide outstanding rotational support.

Durden in particular has been a royal pain in the ass in the postseason, with 13 total pressures in just 53 pass-rushing snaps. And Williams is an absolute dog when it comes to generating pressure from the get-go — this season, he has three solo sacks and 22 total pressures on quarterback drops of 0-3 steps, and that’s just amplified itself in the playoffs.

Barmore, by the way, has three solo sacks and 27 total pressures on those quick drops this season, so you are picking your poison with these guys.

New England’s DTs provide the Patriots one of their few matchup advantages in the Super Bowl, but there is a silver lining to Anthony Bradford being Seattle’s right guard in the Super Bowl: Klint Kubiak and offensive line coach John Benton have had to work around his shortcomings for the entire season.

The Seahawks know Bradford better than anybody else does. The only player on Seattle’s offense with more snaps than him this season are Abe Lucas and Grey Zabel. (Shout out to Abe Lucas making it through an entire season.) So as opposed to a team needing to find a last minute replacement for a starter in the Super Bowl, at least the Seahawks know what they’re getting out of Bradford and how they like to work around it.

Bret: From a defensive standpoint, I'm most worried about QB runs, designed or improvised. What do you think about how we match up against a mobile, off-schedule QB who is decently accurate? Am I giving him too much credit?

I’m just going to be very honest about Drake Maye, even if there will be some Seahawks fans who wish I would be overly cautious about getting hopes up before the Super Bowl: I watched Kurt Warner breakdown Maye’s NFC Championship game performance and I was a little bit stunned at how critical Warner was of the Patriots quarterback.

Warner tends to be defensive of all quarterbacks, especially young ones in situations where they don’t have a great supporting cast, but this felt a lot more like a word of warning to New England that they’re in for a rude awakening if Maye continues to play like he has recently.

Look, Maye can run. He’s athletic. He can scramble. He can move his launch point and throw accurately on the run. He can beat you with his arm and his legs. Drake Maye IS a dual threat…but I think that aspect of his game has now been overrated BECAUSE New England’s supporting cast is so underwhelming that people have had to sort of create situations to be afraid of against the Patriots.

Per NextGenStats, Maye had the third-most scrambling rushing yards (423) in 2025:

That’s an average of 25 yards and one first down per game. Is that so crazy unbeatable for a defense?

Are the Seahawks in grave danger because the quarterback tacks on 25 rushing yards and one first down in the game?

Look, you give Maye the Rams offense or the Bears offense or a healthy 49ers offense and maybe with that supporting cast he’s unstoppable. On the Patriots offense without a good offensive line or a lot of weapons to work with, New England has struggled to move the ball THROUGHOUT the playoffs.

The one time they scored some points, against the Texans, this was the Patriots drive chart—and I think this is more telling than points:

They had 14 drives (without kneeldowns) and the results:

• 3 turnovers

• 8 punts

• 5 three-and-outs

• 10 drives with 12 or fewer yards

• 3 touchdowns (every TD drive had decent starting field position)

That’s how you score 28 points when the other team turns it over 5 times.

Of course Maye is a concern if the game is close in the fourth quarter and the Patriots defense has been locking down the Seahawks offense all day. That could happen. It’s not what I expect to happen.

zezinhom400: I’m just thinking about what the rest of the NFL is going to think if Seattle wins the SB convincingly -- and they realize we have literally no one at risk unless we want to let them go, and that Schneider is sitting on $70m in cap space. Does it make guys do crazy shit? Like, would our division opponents do crazy shit, mortgage the future, stuff like that?

49ers beat writer Grant Cohn said he’s rooting for the Seahawks because then maybe the 49ers will realize that they paid Brock Purdy too much money and that other franchises will pump the brakes on these ludicrous quarterback contracts. I agree that teams are overpaying quarterbacks and it’s hurting the product, both in a case-by-case team basis and in general league-wide.

Hopefully if the Seahawks do win the Super Bowl they don’t make the same mistake with Sam Darnold that they made with Russell Wilson; not that extending Wilson the first time was a mistake or that it hurt the team that much (Seattle got lucky to be able to turn his rights into two firsts and two seconds) but at a certain point Wilson’s third contract became debilitating.

Will other teams do “crazy shit” to counter-act the Seahawks? To some degree they’ve already avoided doing something crazy because I think you could make an argument that the 49ers should trade Kyle Shanahan and the Rams should rebuild without Matthew Stafford.

I’m not sure that there’s any “push” that the 49ers can make in the offseason to catch up to Seattle or L.A. given their age and injury concerns. The Rams might be right back in the Super Bowl race in 2026, but they need to get Stafford another weapon and hope that he isn’t about to fall off a cliff at 38.

I think the NFC teams that could be early Super Bowl contenders for next season besides Seattle and L.A. are the Bears, Lions, and Eagles (it’s tough for me to throw them out given that Philadelphia is a quick rebounding team), and then maybe the Cowboys, Packers, and 49ers.

Someone can always throw a wrench in your plans like the Moons did last year or the Patriots did this year (does John Harbaugh turn the Giants around that quickly?), but as far as doing something “crazy”? Maybe the Vikings will trade for a quarterback like Lamar Jackson or something. I don’t know that the Seahawks will be the reason for it, but surely some crazy “shit” will happen.

Don Ellis: Fun question: Emmanwori is a player who seems to be reinventing defensive schemes, much like Lawrence Taylor when he first hit the scene. When he receives his first pro-bowl nod, where will he be slotted? He is not a clear cut safety, to me.

Don Ellis: In your mind, has John Schneider done enough to solidify his induction to the Hall of Fame?

You’re asking if Schneider is a Hall of Famer in my opinion, as if would I vote for him to be in the Hall of Fame, and I just don’t think my opinion holds any weight here. I feel like I would need to be more of a historian on the 100+ years of pro football, past general managers, and the standard for making the Hall of Fame.

My opinion is that the Hall of Fame standards are too low already.

What I can offer is facts about the Hall of Fame and only six or seven people classified as “GMs” are in the Hall of Fame and a lot of GMs not in the Hall of Fame have glowing resumes.

If winning two Super Bowl as a GM is Hall of Fame worthy then Eagles GM Howie Roseman would be a Hall of Famer, as would Giants GM Jerry Reese. Chiefs GM Brett Veach has now won three Super Bowls and his teams went to seven consecutive AFC title games. Would Seahawks fans vote Veach into the Hall of Fame over Schneider?

Bill Belichick was the head coach, the defensive coordinator, and the general manager of six Super Bowl champion and nine AFC champion teams. He was not a first ballot Hall of Famer.

• Ozzie Newsome was the GM of the Ravens from 1996 to 2018, won two Super Bowls, and is considered one of the all-time great drafters in NFL history. He’s in the Hall of Fame as a player. Should he be in as a GM?

• Kevin Colbert was the GM of the Steelers from 2000 to 2021, won two Super Bowls, went to a third, and his teams averaged over 10 wins per season. Should Colbert be in the Hall of Fame?

• John Beake was the GM of the Broncos from 1984 to 1998, went to five Super Bowls and won two. Hall of Fame? Most NFL fans have never even heard the name.

Schneider would also get docked for working in tandem with Pete Carroll over the first 14 years of his tenure as Seattle’s GM.

In MY mind is Schneider a Hall of Famer? Sure, in my biased mind, I’ll vote for him. Is he a Hall of Famer in the minds of the voters? With only six GMs in the Hall of Fame (including his mentor Ron Wolf) and many more in front of him in line it’s probably not even close. He might only be halfway to something like that but he’s young enough to maybe go the distance for it.

Get a Seahawks fan a gift subscription for your Super Bowl celebration:

I did a “film studies” bonanza last week. I got more.

Thinking Football on Macdonald’s defense:

Derrik Klassen on Seahawks offense:

Jackson Krueger on Seahawks run game:

The Coach Plays on why the Patriots should be worried:

Alex Rollins on Sam Darnold’s evolution:

Got other Seahawks videos or articles to share? Put it in the comments!