The merch sales should be flying through the roof on this one: the name of the newest NHL team, entering the league in the 2021-2022 season, is the Seattle Kraken.
The announcement for the team name is still ongoing, but given the reactions in social media, the name is already a hit.
The team will play at Climate Pledge Arena, a brand that’s the result of a naming-rights deal between NHL Seattle, Oak View Group and Amazon. 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.
The name of the team had been a closely guarded secret, with much speculation circling around the old Seattle Metropolitans name. But this is much cooler. A kraken is a ocean-dwelling mythological monster said to terrorize sailors and ships around Scandinavia, known for its sheer size and ferocity.
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