Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS), and Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It has a seating capacity of 68,740 spectators for NFL games and 37,722 for most MLS matches. The complex also includes the Event Center, which is home to the Washington Music Theater (WaMu Theater), a parking garage, and a public plaza. Located within a mile (1.6 km) of Downtown Seattle, the stadium is accessible by multiple freeways and forms of mass transit.
The stadium was built between 2000 and 2002 on the site of the Kingdome after voters approved funding for the construction in a statewide election held in June 1997. This vote created the Washington State Public Stadium Authority to oversee public ownership of the venue. The owner of the Seahawks, Paul Allen, formed First & Goal Inc. to develop and operate the new facilities. Allen was closely involved in the design process and emphasized the importance of an open-air venue with an intimate atmosphere. Originally called Seahawks Stadium, it was renamed Qwest Field in 2004 when telecommunications carrier Qwest acquired the naming rights. The stadium became known as CenturyLink Field following Qwest's June 2011 acquisition by CenturyLink and was nicknamed "The Clink" as a result; it received its current name in November 2020 with CenturyLink's rebrand to Lumen Technologies.
Seahawks fans at Lumen Field have twice claimed the Guinness World Record for loudest crowd roar at an outdoor stadium, in 2013 and 2014. The crowd's notorious noise has also contributed to the team's home field advantage with an increase in false start (movement by an offensive player prior to the play) and delay of game (failure of the offense to snap the ball prior to the play clock expiring) penalties against visiting teams. The stadium was the first in the NFL to install a FieldTurf artificial surface. Numerous college and high school football games have also been played at the stadium, including the 2011 and 2024 Apple Cups and all Washington Huskies home games during the renovation of Husky Stadium in 2012. The XFL's Seattle Dragons began playing at Lumen Field in 2020 and returned in 2023 as the Sea Dragons.
Lumen Field is also designed for soccer. The first sporting event held included a United Soccer Leagues (USL) Seattle Sounders match. The USL team began using the stadium regularly for home games in 2003. The MLS expansion team, Seattle Sounders FC, began its inaugural season in 2009 at the stadium. Lumen Field was the site of the MLS Cup in 2009 and 2019; the latter set a new attendance record for the stadium with 69,274 spectators. The venue also hosted the 2010 and 2011 tournament finals for the U.S. Open Cup as well as the second leg of the 2022 tournament final for the CONCACAF Champions League; the Sounders won all three finals, with new tournament attendance records set for each final (or leg) hosted at Lumen Field. The stadium hosted several CONCACAF Gold Cup matches, and the Copa América Centenario in 2016. Temporarily renamed by FIFA to Seattle Stadium, the stadium hosted six matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Funding The Seahawks played their home games at the Kingdome from their 1976 inaugural season until 1999, sharing the stadium with Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners and the National Basketball Association's Seattle SuperSonics. In 1995 a proposal was made to issue county bonds to fund a remodeling project of the facility. The proposal failed, and as a result, Seahawks' owner Ken Behring threatened to sell or move the team (likely to Los Angeles). In 1997, local billionaire Paul Allen pledged to acquire the team if a new stadium could be built and said that the team could not be profitable until they left the Kingdome. He asked the state legislature to hold a special statewide referendum on a proposal to finance a new stadium. Allen also agreed to cover any cost overruns. With Allen agreeing to pay the $4 million cost, the legislature agreed. The vote was scheduled to be held in June 1997 but in May a Seattle resident filed a lawsuit that claimed the legislature did not have authority to call for such a vote, since it would be paid for by a private party who could gain from the result. The case was delayed until after the vote. The proposal was pitched to voters as providing both a new home for the Seahawks and a venue for top-level soccer. It passed on June 17, 1997, with 820,364 (51.1%) in favor and 783,584 against. The vote was close in Seattle, but it received 60% approval in Seattle's northern and eastern suburbs. The public funding was unpopular farther away in the eastern portion of the state. In October, a Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled that the legislature acted properly and in the public's interest, and he dismissed the pending lawsuit. The Washington Supreme Court upheld the decision that December.
Voter approval of the referendum created a public–private partnership. The Washington State Public Stadium Authority was created to oversee public ownership of the stadium, exhibition center, and parking garage complex. Allen purchased the Seahawks and formed First & Goal Inc. to build and operate the facility. The budget for the project was $430 million. Of this cost, $44 million was allotted to build the Event Center, $26 million for the parking garage, and $360 million for the stadium. First & Goal was to cover cost overruns and pay up to $130 million of the project while the contribution from the public was capped at $300 million. The public funding package included new sports-related state lottery games, taxes on the facility's admissions and parking, sales tax credits and deferrals, and an eight-year extension of the 2% tax on hotel rooms in King County. The taxes on admissions and parking were set below the authorized 10% to preserve the tax-exempt status of the project's bonds, which were first issued on May 1, 1999; the percentage was increased to the full amount when the bonds were completely paid on January 1, 2021, with the taxes subsequently serving as dedicated funding sources for maintenance and modernization of the facilities. Furthermore, a clause in the referendum required Allen or his estate to give the Public Stadium Authority 10% of the proceeds from the sale of a majority or all of their interest in the Seahawks if they had done so before or on the 25th anniversary of the first bond sale. The proceeds would have been reserved for the state's public schools had a sale of the team occurred before the bonds were fully paid off; any sale in between the bond retirement and the clause expiration would have seen the proceeds go towards improvements to the stadium instead.
In September 1998, First & Goal signed a 30-year stadium lease that includes options to extend for another 20. Per the agreement, the Public Stadium Authority receives $850,000 a year from First and Goal (adjusted for inflation), and First & Goal keeps all revenue from the stadium and parking garage. The company receives 80% of the revenue from the exhibition center while the other 20 percent is allotted to a state education fund. First & Goal is responsible for all operating and maintenance costs, expected to be $6 million a year, and must keep the facility in "first-class" condition. Other details of the lease include the availability of affordable seats, a coordinated effort with neighboring T-Mobile Park (the Mariners' current ballpark) to prevent gridlock, a provision for naming rights, the investment in public art at the stadium, and the giveaway of a luxury suite to a fan each Seahawks' game.
Construction and layout
The architectural firm Ellerbe Becket, in association with Loschky, Marquardt and Nesholm (LMN) Architects of Seattle, designed the project. Allen was closely involved during the design process. While growing up he attended games at the University of Washington's (UW) outdoor Husky Stadium. His goal was to create a similar experience and atmosphere at the new venue. The exhibition center portion of the project was designed over a period of 14 months by LMN Architects while First & Goal managed the construction. Town meetings were held to discuss the impact on the public, and the company created a $6 million mitigation fund for nearby neighborhoods. In accordance with a program established by the building team, contracts totaling $81 million were awarded to minority- and women-owned businesses. Union apprentices made up 19% of the workforce through another program with local trade unions.
Construction of the new exhibition center and parking garage was set to commence on September 19, 1998, but prolonged lease discussions between First & Goal and the Public Stadium Authority delayed the official groundbreaking to September 28. The exhibition center opened on October 30, 1999, and subsequently hosted its first event on November 4. On March 26, 2000, to make way for the stadium, the Kingdome was demolished in the world's largest implosion of a single concrete structure. Almost all of the Kingdome rubble was recycled with roughly half used for the new stadium. The designers were challenged by the soft soil at the site since it was a tidal marsh until public works projects in the early 20th century adjusted the waterline of nearby Elliott Bay. The top layer is a soft fill taken from the grading projects that had leveled portions of Seattle's hills. To account for the soft soil, the complex sits on over 2,200 pilings driven below the ground to form what is essentially a pier for the foundation. Eight individually connected sections were built to account for the soil concerns, temperature effects, and the potential for earthquakes. The adjoining exhibition center and parking garage are separate structures and are not part of the eight-section stadium.
The site of Lumen Field is the smallest of those developed for new NFL stadiums, at . The upper levels were cantilevered over the lower sections to fit within the limited footprint. Along with the angle of seats and the placement of the lower sections closer to the field, this provided a better view of the field than typically seen throughout the country and allowed for a 67,000-seat capacity. Space is available to increase the total capacity to 72,000 for special events. Included in the capacity are 111 suites and over 7,000 club seats. The stadium has 1,400 seats for those with disabilities and their companions located in various sections. In 2009, Qwest Field ranked 21st out of the 31 stadiums in the NFL for total seating capacity.
The configuration of Lumen Field is a U-shape with an open north end to provide views of downtown Seattle and the large north plaza. The large retractable roof of T-Mobile Park along with Mount Rainier to the southeast can be seen from the partially open south end. The stadium's concourses were built to be wide, and they provide additional views of the surrounding area. A 13-story tower was erected at the north end of the stadium that visually complements the Seattle skyline. The tower features a vertically oriented scoreboard which is the first of its kind in the NFL. At the base is bleacher seating for 3,000 called the "Hawks' Nest". Another addition not previously seen in the NFL are field-level luxury suites located directly behind the north end zone.