These Seahawk Fans Will Travel a Long Way to See Their Team Play

Like many fans across the country, Fred Wilson began his Sunday parked behind the sports page, munching a sweet roll and checking the latest scores. His wife, Amy, sat beside him, reading the paper.

But instead of looking out their kitchen window the Wilsons were watching the Columbia River roll by amid the Northwest’s lush green forests.

The Wilsons were taking a train from Portland to Seattle to watch their beloved Seahawks. It’s been part of their football routine since train service to Seahawks’ home games began nine years ago.

“It’s great,” Fred Wilson, 44, a mechanic from Milwaukie, Ore., said after emerging from his paper. “If I was driving, I’d have to fight traffic, find a place to park. This drops you off right across the street from the stadium. It’s like having a reserved parking place in a parking lot that’s all your own.”

The round trip between Portland and Seattle is 360 miles and takes eight hours.

“I like it because I can be with my husband when he watches football,” said Amy Wilson, 41. “If we were at home, he’d be glued to the TV and he wouldn’t even know I’m at home. He can’t watch TV (on the train), so we talk.”

SportsWorld Tours of Lake Oswego, Ore., sells reserved seats on the Amtrak train for those going to the game. The company arranges with Amtrak to add extra cars for fans.

About 700 $40 tickets are sold during a typical game week, said Harry Meader, who operates SportWorld Tours with his son, Brad. But only 375 tickets were purchased for the first game after the NFL players went on strike and 300 for the next game.

“What we have now is the hard core 300 -- the 300 who regularly take the train to these games regardless of who’s playing,” Harry Meader said.

For $40, a fan receives a seat on the train to and from the game. It takes two minutes to walks from the Seattle train station to the Kingdome, home of the Seahawks.

The train rolled across a bridge spanning the Columbia between Portland and southwest Washington. More than a few passengers were fortified by trips to the club car.

“Eh-en (Seven? Eleven?)” said one woman when asked how many beers she had during the trip north.

At the Kingdome, these fans were more interested in the game than free agency and the merits of binding arbitration.

“The subs are pretty good,” Fred Wilson said. “Hell, if the regulars don’t come back I think the replacements will get better and pretty soon you’ll forget about the regular players.”

Another train rider said he likes the NFL more since the players went on strike.

“It’s got more of a collegiate flair,” said Jack Wescott, 58, of Portland. “It’s more unpredictable.”

The game ended with Seattle losing to Cincinnati 17-10.

“The refs were lousy,” said one train-riding Seahawks fan.

“Should have pushed that first drive in,” another said of an opening drive that ended on the Bengals’ 1-yard line.

Still, there were no complaints.

“This reminds me of my college days,” said Sam Whitehall, 68, of Portland, who made the trip with his grandson, Zack, 8. “In my day, we’d take the train to see college games. I wanted my grandson to get an idea of that.”