Qwest Field is a football stadium in Seattle, Washington. It serves as the home field for the NFL's Seattle Seahawks and men's and women's Seattle Sounders soccer teams. The stadium opened in July 2002 and was built on the site of the Kingdome, the previous stadium for the Seahawks, Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners, and several other Seattle sports teams. On March 26, 2000, to make way for the construction of the stadium, the Kingdome fell in the world's largest implosion of a single concrete structure.

The stadium was originally named Seahawks Stadium and affectionately called "The Hawk", or the "Hawks Nest". The name Qwest Field was announced on June 2, 2004, after Qwest bought the naming rights, $75 million, for 15 years. Although some people began using the new name immediately, the official approval wasn't given until twenty-two days later (June 24) by the Washington State Public Stadium Authority. Seahawks owner Paul Allen funded about 30% of the stadium's cost out of his pocket, the remainder being paid by a funding package of user fees, sports lottery revenue, and taxes on related industries.

Allen was intimately involved in the stadium design. He rejected plans for a retractable roof, and directed the architects to minimize the stadium footprint as much as possible to bring fans closer to the action. Also, he had the architects design the structure of the stadium, especially the roof, to dump as much crowd noise as possible on the field. Qwest Field has since earned a reputation as arguably the loudest stadium in the NFL. During the 2005 season, more penalties for false starts were called against visiting teams in Qwest Field than in any other NFL stadium.

[Source: Wikipedia]

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