Having No '12th Man' Could Hinder The Seahawks In Super Bowl

SEATTLE (CBS4) - The Mile High fans definitely give the Denver Broncos a boost at home, but the Seahawks and their "12th Man" might have had the best home field advantage in the league. CBS4's Stan Bush traveled to Seattle to get a closer listen.

Playing in New Jersey, neither the Broncos nor the Seahawks will have home field advantage, but could the Seahawks have more fans than the Broncos?

The "12th Man" has been a huge part of Seattle's success. For the last two seasons the Seahawks have only lost one game at CenturyLink Field and they set a volume record for a live sporting event and caused a small man-made earthquake.

Seattle fans are so intense seismologists can track what happens in a game on the Richter scale. Outside the stadium people can feel the game just as much as they can hear it.

Bush asked University of Washington seismologist John Vidale if it could only happen at CenturyLink Field.

"We don't really know, but Seattle has this reputation, and they play to the reputation, and the stadium is built to be noisy, so it wouldn't be surprising if it was the noisiest environment in the country," Vidale said.

Vidale said the stadium noise can be heard all the way across the city on game day.

"You would probably feel it within a couple of blocks, because the ground, it's vibrating," he said.

Analysts call the noise the CenturyLink Field the most tangible intangible in all of sports.

You have enough stimuli coming at you, and it's unwavering, it's just relentless and keeps coming," said Dr. Craig Stone, a sports psychologist. "It can have sort of an avalanche affect … and athletes, they're not robots."

It will be a huge change for the Seahawks when they get to New York because Super Bowls are more like cocktail parties than like home games as they are usually filled with huge corporate crowds.

Stone says without the noise, both teams could suffer on Super Bowl Sunday.

"The question is, who adapts and overcomes quicker? Football is replete with negative situations. An opponent trying to keep you from the outcome you want, the execution you desire," Stone said. "Who adjusts to that the best is probably going to be telling in this game."

Seattle fans are less worried about the sound and more concerned with the weather conditions.

"I'm a little disappointed that the NFL chose to have it in New York where it's going to be freezing."

The Broncos will play the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 2 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.