PSBJ: Seahawks drive surge in January foot traffic to downtown Seattle

This article was originally published by the Puget Sound Business Journal on Feb. 19, 2026.

Visitors keep flocking to downtown Seattle, though office workers are still at only 58% of pre-pandemic averages.

The Downtown Seattle Association’s monthly Revitalization Dashboard notes that more than 2.5 million unique visitors came downtown last month, 10% more than last year as two Seahawks home playoff games attracted considerable foot traffic.

On Jan. 17, when the Seahawks beat the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC divisional round, downtown saw its busiest January day since before 2019, with more than 378,000 visitors. That game, and the NFC championship matchup against the Los Angeles Rams on Jan. 25, led to a 14% increase in visitors coming from more than 150 miles away, more than double the typical January weekend.

January’s visitor count, however, does not include the Seahawks’ big Super Bowl victory parade on Feb. 11, which also drew hundreds of thousands of visitors to downtown and will show up in the February total.

Office worker foot traffic has hovered around 60% for months as the central business district deals with a vacancy rate estimated at 39% — notably high for the region, which itself has the nation’s highest vacancy rate.

DSA expects solid foot traffic this March, when Emerald City Comic Con is projected to bring 75,000 visitors from March 5-8. The Seattle Mariners’ home opener March 26 against the Cleveland Guardians could draw up to 48,000 fans.