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The Building
The World Cup Comes to Our Turf, and the Stakes Are Enormous
On Monday night, the loudest building in football hosts the biggest soccer match the United States men’s team has played in a generation. USA vs. Belgium, round of 16, win-or-go-home, at Lumen Field — kickoff 5 p.m. our time. A U.S. victory sends the Americans to their first World Cup quarterfinal since 2002.
Yes, they’ve slapped a temporary name on our stadium. For the duration of FIFA’s tournament, Lumen Field is legally “Seattle Stadium,” because sponsor rules don’t allow a corporate name on the marquee. We’ll allow it. For a few more days.
Here’s the part that should make every 12th Hen sit up: this is the same building that set the Guinness record for loudest outdoor stadium crowd twice, 136.6 decibels in 2013 and 137.6 the next year. The Beast Quake registered on an actual seismograph. Now the same concrete bowl gets a knockout-round World Cup match with a country’s tournament on the line. I don’t know what that needle does Monday, but I’d like to be standing far away from it.
137.6 dB
The Guinness-record crowd roar Lumen Field produced in 2014 — the second time the building broke the mark.
There’s history here too. It was Belgium who bounced the U.S. out of the 2014 World Cup in the round of 16. Same round, same opponent, twelve years later, and this time it’s happening in the house we defend every fall. The Seahawks don’t play a snap in this game. It’s still the most important thing to happen on that field between the Super Bowl and September.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Field Gulls announced it’ll be reporting on-site from three padded practices during the second week of camp, plus a live show set at a SoDo brewery. The vibe of a fanbase that just won it all: still finding an excuse to spend August in Renton. Same as it ever was. Field Gulls
The ownership sale is still stuck in the polite-silence phase: the first round of bids closed Monday and the same three groups remain in it, with no statement from the team or Allen & Co. Somewhere a fan is refreshing a message board hoping a local whale swoops in. Bless him. Heavy
Twenty-two days until camp, and the report date is set: rookies as early as July 17, first public practice July 25. The countdown clock on the offseason is officially in single-digit weeks. Enjoy the quiet. The cameras don’t do quiet. Seahawks.com
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
The Aaron Donald smoke got thicker. Per Vincent Bonsignore of the California Post, league sources say the retired Hall of Famer is “seriously contemplating” a return to L.A. in 2026, and a sense exists around the league that he’ll actually do it. So the Super Bowl favorite that already added Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie may soon reinstate the best interior defender of his generation. Cool. We see them twice. Bring everybody.
NINERS
Brandon Aiyuk, who signed a four-year, $120 million extension, went back on Instagram Tuesday and compared his situation with the 49ers to modern-day slavery. This is a man asking to be released by a team that pays him millions, torching his own trade value one story at a time. Even SI’s 49ers desk wrote that he only keeps embarrassing himself. When your own coverage is begging you to log off, the phone is not your friend.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
This undrafted safety out of Southern Arkansas earned the nickname “Big Play Babs” and made a franchise-defining diving ankle tackle on a scrambling Tony Romo in the 2006 Wild Card game. Who is he?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Jordan Babineaux. Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2004, he played 99 games for Seattle with 10 interceptions and seven forced fumbles, and later added a 57-yard pick-six in the 2008 playoffs.
Got a Question for the Mailbag?
Send me your best, weirdest, most anxious Seahawks question. Contract math, camp battles, whether you should buy World Cup tickets on the resale market — no topic too big or too petty. The good ones run in a future issue.
The building's about to get loud for somebody else's team. Monday, we lend it out. Then we take it back. — The Rooster