George Martinez, a longtime Seahawks fan from Bellingham, spent his offseason crunching the numbers. Martinez knew he was No. 1,196 on the Blue Pride waiting list, which by his calculations left him right on the cusp of ending a multi-year wait for season tickets.

The Seahawks cap season tickets at 61,500, and in recent years have had a 99.6 percent renewal rate, which doesn't leave a lot of room for new season ticket holders each year. But when it was announced in March that the Seahawks were for a second straight year recapturing season tickets from ticket brokers, including more than 1,000 that would go to Blue Pride members, Martinez knew he had a good shot.

"I was doing all the calculations, and crossing every finger," Martinez said. "Me and my buddies were talking about it every day, we were like, 'If it's not this year, then next year.' But I was really, really hoping for this year."

Eventually, Martinez got the call informing he would get those season tickets.

"There's no words to describe that feeling," Martinez said. "It's like winning the lottery."

For Martinez, who has family in Eastern Washington and Seattle, Seahawks games aren't just a chance to watch football, but also a reason for family to come together from across the state to bond over a shared interest.

"It's an occasion for us," he said. "They're in Eastern Washington, I'm in Bellingham, my sister is in Seattle. It's a chance to unite around something we're passionate about."

Dating back to last year, the Seahawks have recaptured more than 5,300 tickets from ticket brokers, distributing those tickets directly to fans on the Blue Pride list, season-ticket upgrades and single-game ticket sales.

"That's great," Samantha Simpson, a new season ticket holder from Puyallup who had been on the Blue Pride list since 2012, said of the Seahawks recapturing tickets from brokers. "... For us that was great news."

Jason Therrell, a longtime fan from Everett, says he "dillydallied around" for a while before joining the wait list just as the Seahawks' popularity was soaring in 2012, "then all of a sudden there were 10,000 people in front of me."

So needless to say, Therrell was thrilled to purchase season tickets this offseason, even if they're five rows from the top of CenturyLink Field, where, as he notes, "You're watching the whole stadium erupt."

"We're really excited," Therrell said of getting the call while on his way home one afternoon. "I had my son in the back seat, he's not even two years old, but he was so excited. I got home while I was still on the phone, I told my wife, she was very excited… We're stoked."

While season tickets are now sold out for the 2016 season, there are still other opportunities for fans to purchase single-game tickets through Ticketmaster. A limited number of field seats are still available as well. And on July 25, additional tickets will go on sale at the CenturyLink Field box office only, priced at $66, which represents the average of the lowest ticket price across the NFL.