|
Post by mikecubs on Jan 29, 2020 17:34:51 GMT -6
NHL Seattle responds after report that team will be named Seattle KrakenWe may have a break in the case of the NHL Seattle team name. Then again, we may not. Previously: NHL Seattle reveals new website with interesting color scheme In an interview on Sirius XM’s NHL Network Radio, it was reported that Seattle Kraken will be the name by John Hoven, editor of Mayors Manor, a website that covers the Los Angeles Kings. NHL Seattle responded Wednesday afternoon and made no indication whether the rumor is correct, however. First, here’s what Hoven said, according to Russian Machine Never Breaks, a website that covers the Washington Capitals: “ From everything that I’ve heard, it looks like Seattle Kraken is going to be the name. … I was a little bit in shock personally, just because we had been told several times previously that that was not the name that they were going for.” NHL Seattle’s official Twitter account added confusion to the story a few hours later with a post that made vague references to several nicknames that have been rumored to be in consideration, making no definitive statement on what direction the club may be leaning. NHL Seattle ✔ @nhlseattle_ While we’re aware of some fishy rumors surrounding our team name, please rest assured we’re doing our due diligence by scouring the depths of the ocean, the tallest mountains, and the densest parts of the forest to find the right name for our great, green city. 1,955 5:09 PM - Jan 29, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy 765 people are talking about this NHL Seattle then released an official statement that said it “will not be commenting on any rumors,” as reported by 710Sports.com’s Andy Eide. Andy Eide @andyeide A statement from NHL Seattle: “At NHL Seattle, we are thrilled by the growing excitement about our team—and we can’t wait to share every detail with our fans. However, we will not be commenting on any rumors. Please check our social channels for more updates.” 11 5:19 PM - Jan 29, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy See Andy Eide's other Tweets Kraken has been a bit of an underdog in the conversation about potential names, with Seattle Sockeyes seeming to be the favorite to be chosen. Hoven said the potential of a legal issue with an author who has written a series of romance novels featuring a fictional Seattle Sockeyes team could be why NHL Seattle would go another direction. “That just then creates one of those legal issues that the NHL tends to try to shy away from, trying to secure the rights and that sort of stuff,” Hoven said. “It’s one of the reasons why they’ve been so reluctant to use names of the past teams and things like that.” That author, Jami Davenport, spoke to 710 ESPN Seattle in January 2018 about the possibility of Sockeyes becoming the NHL Seattle team name after she filed for a trademark of the name. “I’d love for Seattle to get an NHL team … and I have built this brand around the Seattle Sockeyes over the last three or four years,” Davenport said. “I got a logo, t-shirts, jerseys. I make a good amount of money off it, and I know how closely the NHL guards its own brand and its trademarks. “I’m not trying to profit off this or stop anybody from using that name, I’m just trying to protect my business.” The NHL awarded an expansion franchise to Seattle in December 2018, and there have been rumors ever since about what nicknames would be given to the team. NHL Seattle’s parent company, the Oak View Group, reportedly filed trademarks on 13 potential names in January 2018. There have been several changes in direction when it comes to the timing of an announcement of the team name. NHL Seattle president Tod Leiweke told 710 ESPN Seattle in December 2018 – before the league had held its official vote on expansion – that he expected the name to come in spring 2019, but that didn’t happen. There were also reports and comments suggesting the name would come before or during the 2020 NHL All-Star break, which passed by last weekend. If Kraken does prove to the team’s name, the club appears to be getting a famous new fan known for wearing hockey jerseys: Kevin Smith, director of movies like “Clerks,” “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and “Mallrats.” KevinSmith ✔ @thatkevinsmith SEATTLE! If you name your new @nhl team the KRAKEN, so help me Zeus, I will become a big, fat Krak-Head! Release the Kraken - the most absolutely metal name for hockey team since the @njdevils! (Also: RT #BellLetsTalk all day, whenever you can!) … RMNB ✔ @russianmachine Report: Seattle Kraken believed to be name for NHL Seattle franchise russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2020/01/29/report-seattle-kraken-believed-to-be-name-for-nhl-seattle-franchise/ … sports.mynorthwest.com/763301/nhl-seattle-report-kraken-team-name/?
|
|
|
Post by ekjet72 on Jan 30, 2020 9:21:03 GMT -6
I can just hear the mascots name now...cue public announcer...Michael Buffer And introducing the new mascot....PHIL MyKRAKIN!!!! Sorry about that😜
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Feb 16, 2020 23:59:05 GMT -6
A new pic of key arena renovation
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Feb 27, 2020 0:21:28 GMT -6
NHL Seattle partners with Monorail on free public transit for fansThe announcement is part of the first phase of the new NHL franchise’s transportation plan to get fans to and from the new arena at Seattle Center. NHL Seattle and Seattle Monorail Services announced a significant partnership to improve the World's Fair-era train and include ridership costs in game tickets. The announcement is part of the first phase of the new franchise's transportation plan to get fans in and out of the new arena at Seattle Center. The plan will include another capital investment from NHL Seattle of up to $7 million to upgrade the Westlake Monorail Station. The money will be used to improve the Monorail platforms, electronic fare gates for ticketing, and provide additional elevator access.The idea has long been floated as a potential solution to avoiding the Mercer Mess and congestion points around the Seattle Center. The subsidized transit pass, which will be a part of season and single-game tickets, will be a first for a Seattle-based sports franchise and is believed to be a rare element in North American professional sports. NHL Seattle is only the third professional sports organization in the U.S. to offer a free public transit benefit for fans. The Seattle Monorail can transport up to 325 people per trip. NHL Seattle said the train can transport 25 percent of the capacity of the new arena at Seattle Center in less than 40 minutes.
"The Monorail is generally thought of as a tourist attraction or ride," said Lance Lopes, NHL Seattle executive vice president and general counsel. "We plan to re-introduce people to the idea that the Monorail is still what it was designed to be--high-speed transit. It's an existing last-mile high-speed connection from downtown to the arena that any number of sports teams would love to have in their cities." "We expect around 25% of fans to use public transit in our first year," said Rob Johnson, vice president of transportation for NHL Seattle. "The use of public transit can become a unique part of the fan experience [including 90-second bursts of fun information] and will likely be the quickest and most reliable way to get to and from our games. It's about a system which will both be efficient and build culture." The monorail was built in 1962 to move people between downtown and the Center. It is also a few floors above the Westlake Station, which has existing light rail access. Northgate will be connected by 2021, with the Eastside, Federal Way, and Lynnwood all expected to be connected by 2024. The Monorail has long been discussed for possible upgrades as it relates to the Seattle Center. In fact, Seattle Monorail Services Owner Tom Albro argued against a competing SODO arena proposal as a former Port of Seattle Commissioner and later announced he would not seek re-election as negotiations between the Oak View Group and city of Seattle heated up in 2017. Seattle’s new NHL franchise will play in the new arena at Seattle Center in 2021. www.king5.com/article/sports/nhl/nhl-seattle-partnership-seattle-center-monorail/281-483a8625-2005-424a-a9b7-f44edcdf360a
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Apr 29, 2020 6:37:53 GMT -6
Demolition and digging done, KeyArena readies for walls to be built as crews take coronavirus precautionsWandering the cavernous expanse of KeyArena’s new dirt floor, the first thing that strikes an observer is what isn’t happening. Construction workers wander back and forth — roughly 225 to 300 at any given moment — but the joking around, gatherings and overall camaraderie typically found on job sites seem missing. Instead, workers give each other ample space as they exit dirt haulers, climb up makeshift stairwells and scaffolding and tend to completing a $930 million rebuild of the city’s major sports arena during the coronavirus pandemic. “They’re encouraged not to stand around talking to one another,” said Ken Johnsen, construction executive for the Los Angeles-based Oak View Group, which is spearheading the rebuild for an NHL team launch in October 2021. “Even when they do their morning stretch, that’s usually a group thing they do together. But they aren’t really doing that anymore.” Instead, social distancing has become the norm 53 feet or so below ground — where the new floor is located — just as on the streets above. By adhering to strict safety protocols agreed to in advance by unions and tradespeople entering the site, the project was allowed to keep going as an essential service while others citywide ground to a halt. The project actually stopped voluntarily for four days late last month to go over those enhanced safety measures. Johnsen, walking the floor Tuesday with The Seattle Times, said the extra month gained by continuing work has been a plus, and the arena is scheduled to start being built back up again next week. Since demolition work began early last year, it’s been about tearing things down and digging a floor 15 feet deeper — doing so since last fall with the venue’s 44 million-pound roof partially suspended on temporary posts. Those posts have held the roof up entirely since January. Getting the roof off those temporary supports is one of two reasons — the other being the project’s status as a government facility because the city owns the venue — why work at KeyArena didn’t halt like it did at NHL Seattle’s future practice-facility site at Northgate Mall. Johnsen said the roof theoretically could have stayed on the temporary posts for the rest of this year, though that’s not what they are designed for. “You won’t find too many people in the industry thinking that’s a great idea,” he said. And it won’t be a reality much longer: Eight of 22 permanent original “Y” columns have been reattached to the roof while four additional support buttresses are being prepared as well. Starting next week, workers will begin erecting steel for the first new wall in the arena’s northeast quadrant — where the columns will have all been reattached. Crews initially had to cut down all 22 columns — leaving the Y-shaped top portions dangling rebar from the roof — so they wouldn’t be in the way as a wider footprint was dug sideways to double the venue’s square footage to more than 800,000. They began pouring concrete footers for the new posts in January, then inserting steel rebar foot-by-foot back up toward the arena’s roof — encasing it in concrete — before reattaching it to the dangling Y-shaped portions. Now, with wall work beginning next week, the arena will begin to take its permanent shape. By next year, interior work will have started and — everyone involved hopes — finish in time to reopen the venue by summer 2021. NHL Seattle had hoped to reopen for hosting the 2021 NHL draft in late June, but with this summer’s event in Montreal already postponed by the pandemic, there’s no telling what that future holds. The WNBA Seattle Storm also wants the venue reopened by June 1, 2021, so as not to disrupt part of a third season with the team already playing two years in temporary home locales. Johnsen wouldn’t commit beyond “summer of 2021″ for a completion date, other than to say KeyArena definitely will be open for an October 2021 puck drop. Walking the site Tuesday, NHL Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke said the venue can be “one of the world’s great sports arenas” when it reopens under a new name and praised workers for the job done under trying circumstances. Some workers occasionally bumped up within six feet of one another. Johnsen said the realities of construction make social distancing impossible 100% of the time, especially when crews must work in pairs on specific tasks. But they’ve done a good job, he added, of self-policing and not standing around in groups unnecessarily. Instead, they take lunches apart, go directly to and from where needed and are taking days off when feeling exhausted or unwell. No COVID-19 cases have been reported, he said. And with NHL Seattle due to resume construction on its Northgate practice facility Tuesday, as construction sites statewide begin reopening, they’re keeping fingers crossed any additional KeyArena hurdles won’t be pandemic-related. www.seattletimes.com/sports/hockey/demolition-and-digging-done-keyarena-readies-for-walls-to-be-built-as-crews-take-coronavirus-precautions/
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Jun 21, 2020 15:01:54 GMT -6
NHL Seattle now targeting late summer 2021 reopening for renovated KeyArenaKeyArena’s reopening is expected to be pushed back at least two months, to late summer of 2021, because of coronavirus-related slowdowns, NHL Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke said Tuesday. A Seattle Times tour of the $930 million privately-funded project showed new concrete walls erected throughout the majority of the venue, steel framing for concourses taking shape and work started on an underground VIP parking garage. But while construction has continued almost daily since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, some delays acquiring building materials and the challenges of working around enhanced safety measures likely will push the reopening back from June 1, 2021 to August to mid-September.
“We early on had some aspirations, but there’s no question the supply lines and other challenges have brought some delay,” Leiweke said. “But I am so appreciative of the men and women who strap it on every day — including a face mask — and come here and build this. And they’re building it with great pride.” The newly envisioned time frame means the WNBA’s Seattle Storm will have to play at least part of the 2021 season in temporary facilities, as it has been doing since last year. Leiweke said the team has remained in close contact with the Storm and kept it updated on the shifting timeline. NHL Seattle won’t need the venue until its on-ice debut in October of next year, and Leiweke said he doesn’t foresee issues there. “It will certainly be the summer of 2021 — the question is when,” Leiweke said. “ Will it be August? Will it be Sept. 1? Will it be Sept. 15? It’s somewhere in there.”NHL seasons typically begin in early October, though there’s been talk — given the current coronavirus shutdown — of the league permanently pushing things back to a November or December start date and extending deeper into summer. There’s no chance now of Seattle hosting next June’s NHL draft and expansion draft.A s for the team, Leiweke said plans to announce a name have been put off indefinitely and might not happen until fall as work continues on “a myriad of issues” related to trademarking. The team has begun initial design work on logos and uniforms for a variety of potential names.
“If you do just one (name), then you’ve left yourself hostage to any sort of challenge,” he said, adding that every name of the thousand or so suggested by fans the past two years had some sort of trademark issue that needed working through. “So we’ve had to do multiple (trade)marks, and that’s about where we are.” He added that the ongoing pandemic and police-brutality protests make it unlikely the team will make any major announcements in the near term. “It’s not the right time,” Leiweke said, adding the team could wait until October. “Vegas did it a year out. We’ve got ample time, and the thing this organization will never be is tone deaf. So we’ve got to pick the right time, and we’ve got to make sure all of our ducks are in a row.” Leiweke said the team has had ongoing discussions with employees about racial sensitivity and areas in which it can improve as an organization in the wake of the protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. NHL Seattle told employees Tuesday that June 19 will be made a permanent team holiday to commemorate “Juneteenth” — the date in 1865 when Black slaves in Texas learned they were free. Walking through the KeyArena site Tuesday, Leiweke expressed optimism about what lies ahead for his team and the rebuilt arena. He said the added time being spent on construction has allowed the team to explore incorporating more environmental “sustainability” within the design to reduce the impact of large events. Workers at the KeyArena site were seen donning masks, safety goggles and gloves and staying socially distanced for the most part. There are also separate, one-way stairwells in place to enter and leave the project site — the arena floor is 53 feet below street level — so workers don’t have to cross paths in close proximity. All but a handful of the arena’s 22 original concrete-encased “Y” columns used to hold up the arena’s 44 million-pound roof have been rebuilt and reattached. Crews initially had to cut down the columns — leaving the Y-shaped top portions dangling rebar from the roof — so they wouldn’t be in the way as a wider footprint was dug sideways to double the venue’s square footage to more than 800,000. Once all the columns are reattached, the 72 temporary orange-colored support posts holding the roof up since January will be removed. The concrete walls of a subterranean VIP parking garage in the arena’s southwest quadrant also are more than halfway completed. Leiweke said discussions have begun about how some of the arena’s digital infrastructure — including its two giant scoreboards hanging over opposite ends of the ice rink — will be implemented. “It’s really going to be extraordinary,” he said. “Early on it might have sounded like hyperbole to say it’s going to be one of the most beautiful arenas in the world. (But) I can in a very declaratory way say it’s going to be the most beautiful arena in the world.” www.seattletimes.com/sports/hockey/nhl-seattle-now-targeting-late-summer-2021-reopening-for-renovated-keyarena/
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Jun 26, 2020 1:05:16 GMT -6
New for 2021: Climate Pledge Arenaby Kevin Reichard on June 25, 2020 in Hockey, NHL Well, this is a first: Amazon has purchased naming rights to the rebuilt KeyArena, set to house the new Seattle NHL team beginning in 2021-2022, with the result being Climate Pledge Arena. The renovated arena will also house WNBA’s Seattle Storm. The naming-rights deal stems from a 2019 initiative from Amazon and Global Optimism: The Climate Pledge, which calls on signatories to be net zero carbon across their businesses by 2040—a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement. With investment from Amazon and Oak View Group, the venue is expected to be the first net zero carbon certified arena in the world and set a new sustainability bar for the sports and events industry. “We’ve secured naming rights to the historic arena previously known as KeyArena. Instead of naming it after Amazon, we’re calling it Climate Pledge Arena as a regular reminder of the importance of fighting climate change,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “We look forward to working together with Oak View Group, a new Climate Pledge signatory, and NHL Seattle to inspire global climate action.” “There is no question that the state of our planet is a critical issue for all of us,” said Tim Leiweke, CEO, Oak View Group. “We have a responsibility to future generations to try to leave them with a better world. We love that Amazon is using its naming rights for a cause we care deeply about—this partnership is a visionary step for the facilities business and sport and music industries. Our goal is to be the most progressive, responsible, and sustainable venue in the world. It is not just about one arena—it’s a platform for us to step up and heal our planet.” The arena was previously named Washington State Coliseum and the Seattle Center Coliseum. It began life as the Washington State Pavilion for the Century 21 Exposition and Seattle World’s Fai. Designed by Paul Thiry initially as an expo space, the Washington State Pavilion featured a signature hyperbolic roofline—a roofline that survived two renovations, one to convert the facility to an arena and a later expansion to the KeyArena configuration. Those renovations took great care to minimize the impact on the roofline: the arena floor was lowered 35 feet below street level to allow for 3,000 more seats during the past renovation, for instance. The current Seattle Center features plenty of World’s Fair buildings dating back to the 1962 event, as well as the venerable monorail still running from downtown. Highlights of the naming-rights deal: First arena in the world targeting net Zero Carbon certification by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI), a leading non-profit organization dedicated to advancing sustainable building practices. Arena will have all-electric operations and be powered with 100% renewable electricity, both from on-site solar panels and off-site renewable energy. Events at the arena will be made fully net zero carbon through investments in forestry projects with organizations such as The Nature Conservancy that will sequester any remaining carbon emissions from arena operations. Carbon emissions and sustainability performance of the arena and all events will be measured and publicly disclosed. All operations and events at the arena will be ‘zero waste’ with durable and compostable containers. A minimum of 95% of all arena waste will be diverted from landfills on a weight basis. Arena will use reclaimed rainwater in the ice system to create the greenest ice in the NHL. Original 44-million-pound roof from the arena will be reused in construction to significantly reduce the embodied carbon of the building. At least 75 percent of the arena’s food program will be sourced locally on a seasonal basis to support regional farmers and producers, and all viable unused food from events will be donated to local community food programs. NHL Seattle and WNBA Storm tickets will double as free public transit passes to promote use of public transportation for attendees, including on the refurbished Seattle Monorail. Amazon and OVG will form the Climate Pledge Arena Sustainability Advisory Council in partnership with community groups to support local environmental initiatives. The 18,100-seat venue is expected to host 200 events each year, including NHL Seattle, three-time WNBA world champion Seattle Storm, live music and entertainment, and City of Seattle community events arenadigest.com/2020/06/25/new-for-2021-climate-pledge-arena/
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Jun 27, 2020 3:36:48 GMT -6
Could the pandemic-shortened season open a door for the Grizzlies to leave Memphis? Contract requires payment for ticket shortfall or the Grizz can walkThere is some concern about the NBA Grizzlies and their contract to continue playing in Memphis at FedExForum. It has to do with the amount of paid attendance at the games and whether it is enough to keep the Grizzlies in the Bluff City. The concern comes from a clause in the Grizzlies’ original contract with the city and county that says if paid attendance falls below 14,900 at FedExForum, the Grizzlies can trigger an early termination right allowing the team to get out of the deal and leave Memphis if the city and county, or the community, don’t come through with enough ticket sales to cover the shortfall.The provision was included in the original deal, signed by all parties, back in 2001 when the team relocated to Memphis from Vancouver. With the pandemic ending the regular season prematurely, ticket sales were halted for any remaining games. Concern over the future of the Memphis Grizzlies We’ve reached out to the Grizzlies to confirm whether the season average fell below the 14,900 threshold. The Grizzlies declined to comment, but our source tells us the team is not interested in leaving and all parties have been in negotiation “for months.” When asked about the situation, City of Memphis Deputy Chief Operating Officer Kyle Veazy said in a statement, “We are aware of that clause in the contract and we’ve been working proactively with our partners at Shelby County and the Grizzlies to address it.” According to our source, the shortfall would be less than $10 million. The Grizzlies’ FedExForum lease runs through 2029. The team’s local owners have a right of first refusal if majority owner Robert Pera wanted to sell it before October 2027. Their price would be roughly equal to what Pera paid for it -- about $377 million. Forbes values the franchise right now at $1.3 billion. www.wmcactionnews5.com/2020/06/25/could-pandemic-shortened-season-open-door-grizzlies-leave-memphis/
|
|
|
Post by wolfmannick on Jun 27, 2020 8:18:23 GMT -6
Could the pandemic-shortened season open a door for the Grizzlies to leave Memphis? Contract requires payment for ticket shortfall or the Grizz can walkThere is some concern about the NBA Grizzlies and their contract to continue playing in Memphis at FedExForum. It has to do with the amount of paid attendance at the games and whether it is enough to keep the Grizzlies in the Bluff City. The concern comes from a clause in the Grizzlies’ original contract with the city and county that says if paid attendance falls below 14,900 at FedExForum, the Grizzlies can trigger an early termination right allowing the team to get out of the deal and leave Memphis if the city and county, or the community, don’t come through with enough ticket sales to cover the shortfall.The provision was included in the original deal, signed by all parties, back in 2001 when the team relocated to Memphis from Vancouver. With the pandemic ending the regular season prematurely, ticket sales were halted for any remaining games. Concern over the future of the Memphis Grizzlies We’ve reached out to the Grizzlies to confirm whether the season average fell below the 14,900 threshold. The Grizzlies declined to comment, but our source tells us the team is not interested in leaving and all parties have been in negotiation “for months.” When asked about the situation, City of Memphis Deputy Chief Operating Officer Kyle Veazy said in a statement, “We are aware of that clause in the contract and we’ve been working proactively with our partners at Shelby County and the Grizzlies to address it.” According to our source, the shortfall would be less than $10 million. The Grizzlies’ FedExForum lease runs through 2029. The team’s local owners have a right of first refusal if majority owner Robert Pera wanted to sell it before October 2027. Their price would be roughly equal to what Pera paid for it -- about $377 million. Forbes values the franchise right now at $1.3 billion. www.wmcactionnews5.com/2020/06/25/could-pandemic-shortened-season-open-door-grizzlies-leave-memphis/ Where would they go though? Seattle?
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Jun 27, 2020 15:42:52 GMT -6
Could the pandemic-shortened season open a door for the Grizzlies to leave Memphis? Contract requires payment for ticket shortfall or the Grizz can walkThere is some concern about the NBA Grizzlies and their contract to continue playing in Memphis at FedExForum. It has to do with the amount of paid attendance at the games and whether it is enough to keep the Grizzlies in the Bluff City. The concern comes from a clause in the Grizzlies’ original contract with the city and county that says if paid attendance falls below 14,900 at FedExForum, the Grizzlies can trigger an early termination right allowing the team to get out of the deal and leave Memphis if the city and county, or the community, don’t come through with enough ticket sales to cover the shortfall.The provision was included in the original deal, signed by all parties, back in 2001 when the team relocated to Memphis from Vancouver. With the pandemic ending the regular season prematurely, ticket sales were halted for any remaining games. Concern over the future of the Memphis Grizzlies We’ve reached out to the Grizzlies to confirm whether the season average fell below the 14,900 threshold. The Grizzlies declined to comment, but our source tells us the team is not interested in leaving and all parties have been in negotiation “for months.” When asked about the situation, City of Memphis Deputy Chief Operating Officer Kyle Veazy said in a statement, “We are aware of that clause in the contract and we’ve been working proactively with our partners at Shelby County and the Grizzlies to address it.” According to our source, the shortfall would be less than $10 million. The Grizzlies’ FedExForum lease runs through 2029. The team’s local owners have a right of first refusal if majority owner Robert Pera wanted to sell it before October 2027. Their price would be roughly equal to what Pera paid for it -- about $377 million. Forbes values the franchise right now at $1.3 billion. www.wmcactionnews5.com/2020/06/25/could-pandemic-shortened-season-open-door-grizzlies-leave-memphis/ Where would they go though? Seattle? If they left yes. But I think they survive. Memphis will give them some goodies to stay.
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Jul 23, 2020 13:20:40 GMT -6
Seattle Kraken to take the ice in 2021-22 NHL seasonThe Kraken has been released. Seattle's NHL team, which will make its debut in the 2021-22 season, on Thursday finally announced its name -- the Kraken -- as well as a color scheme: icy blue and navy blue with sharp red accents. The NHL officially named Seattle as its 32nd team in 2018 for a $650 million expansion fee. "It's a very unique and unusual name in sports, because almost all sport franchises end with an 'S,'" Andy Jassy, a part-owner of the team, told ESPN. "There are a lot of obvious connections to Seattle -- part because of our maritime history; part of because we have so much water around us -- but there is longtime folklore in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest of this mystical Kraken creature that lives just below the surface of the sea, which really captivated people for many years. "That mystique, that intensity, and that power that people have long talked about with the Kraken is what we expect our NHL team to play with." Jassy said the team looked at more than 1,200 names and did a "real exploration" on more than 100. The franchise settled on five finalists, which were sealed into an envelope and put in a time capsule in Seattle's Space Needle -- along with Nirvana records, a Twinkie and one share of Amazon -- that will be revealed in 2062, on the Needle's 100th anniversary. Kraken president Tod Leiweke has been focused on serving the community first, so the team launched an interactive portal in May 2019 for fans to offer suggestions. Team leaders also held informal focus groups and monitored social media to see "how often potential names were mentioned, what was the sentiment, the reactions," Heidi Dettmer, Kraken vice president of marketing, told ESPN. According to Dettmer, Kraken -- and specifically the slogan, "Release the Kraken" -- kept surfacing. "Throughout this whole process, it's been a rallying cry for fans," Dettmer said. "We heard it everywhere. It's what kept coming up over and over again." The logo features an "S" as the primary mark -- an homage to the original Seattle Metropolitans uniforms. The Metropolitans, the city's original pro hockey team from the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, became the first American team to win the Stanley Cup in 1917. The Kraken's twisting blue "S" also invokes its mythical sea creature namesake. "While you're seeing the 'S,' and thinking about the Metropolitans, thinking about the colors, that negative space tentacle is hiding there, wrapping around your ankles, ready to pull you down," says Matty Merrill, Adidas' design director who worked on the logo. "We had to make sure it wasn't a cartoon character or something silly." Seattle had considered naming the team the Metropolitans, but according to Jassy that choice was met with "reticence" by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who didn't want to change the name of the NHL's Metropolitan Division. Of the 31 existing teams in the NHL, 16 have some shade of blue in the logo. Adidas, however, felt that the Kraken's combination -- as well as the red accents -- makes it unique both among NHL teams, and other blue-centered teams in the Seattle market. "It's actually quite brilliant, almost a neon blue that looks like the ice caps on the Olympics and the white caps on the Puget Sound," Merrill said. "Then the navy is so dark, it's almost black. We call it deep sea. The whole uniform has no white -- there's zero white -- and it's really just these complementary blues. The way they present their brand will be that way -- these two blues and no white. No surrender at all." Seattle general manager Ron Francis, who had a 23-year-playing career mostly with the Whalers/Hurricanes organization, sat in on the branding committee. "His opinion held a ton of weight in this process from a hockey standpoint," Dettmer said. Francis offered this advice to designers: "This needs to be a sweater, that when the players put on, they feel really proud. It needs to be iconic. It needs to be noble." The news comes one month after Amazon secured naming rights for Seattle's downtown arena that will house the Kraken, as well as the WNBA's Storm. However, the company's name won't appear on the building. Instead, the arena will be called Climate Pledge Arena and will feature several green initiatives. Climate Pledge Arena is trying to become the first arena in the world to earn net zero carbon certification by the International Living Future Institute. The cost of the building has been estimated at more than $900 million. The 18,100-seat venue is expected to host 200 events each year, including concerts and the NHL and WNBA games. The building is under construction on the Seattle Center campus, on the site of the former KeyArena that was the primary home of the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics. www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/29524234/seattle-kraken-take-ice-2021-22-nhl-season
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Jul 23, 2020 13:22:48 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by wolfmannick on Jul 24, 2020 0:25:24 GMT -6
Like the name, like the logo, hate the jerseys. Shoulda gone with Cthulu or Swampdonkeys though.
|
|
|
Post by mikecubs on Jul 27, 2020 11:01:20 GMT -6
Like the name, like the logo, hate the jerseys. Shoulda gone with Cthulu or Swampdonkeys though. I don't mind Kraken and like the logo/ am ok with the jerseys but I liked Sockeyes the best but they couldn't get trademark rights for that.
|
|
|
Post by ekjet72 on Jul 27, 2020 15:15:54 GMT -6
I imagine a few of Seattle's juvenile supporters will have their name on the back- Phil McKraken. Just like SK Roughies have a bunch of Ryan Coke jerseys.
|
|