2020 continues to be a crazy year.
Jeff Bezos, the founder, CEO and President of Amazon, has reportedly bought the naming rights to Seattle’s new NHL arena. KeyArena, which is currently under redevelopment, will be renamed Climate Pledge Arena. It will be the first zero-carbon arena in the world, meaning it will be powered exclusively by renewable energy.
Jeff Bezos announces Amazon buys naming right to Seattle’s NHL Arena….will be called Climate Pledge Arena https://t.co/KKmnxfMMxx
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 25, 2020
Seattle’s NHL team announced details of their arena on their Twitter page Thursday afternoon. The team’s press release states that Climate Pledge Arena will run solely on electric for daily operations, eliminating all fossil fuels from the building and installing the first all-electric dehumidification systems in the NHL.
Welcome to the first net zero carbon certified arena in the world.@amazon, #NHLSeattle & @oakviewgroup are excited to announce a partnership to name our future home Climate Pledge Arena & use our platform to take action against climate change → https://t.co/BrbV4rDOOO pic.twitter.com/I6FBf1euIK
— NHL Seattle (@NHLSeattle_) June 25, 2020
Some more details on the arena from the press release:
- The first arena to ban single-use plastics and commit to functional zero waste. Fans will see only compost and recycling bins, no trash cans.
- The first arena to fully offset the carbon emissions of all events and related transportation by fans, sports teams and entertainers, achieving carbon-neutral operations and use.
- The lowest embodied carbon arena in the world; saving the landmark roof and the new arena’s subterranean footprint significantly reduces façade materials needed and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.
- The greenest ice in the world using rainwater, refrigerants with zero greenhouse gas emissions and electric Zambonis.
- The largest coordinated effort of fan engagement with climate issues of any NHL team.
Here’s video of the arena plans from the NHL Seattle official YouTube channel.
It’s pretty neat to see an NHL team use their platform to take action against climate change. Bezos is believed to be the wealthiest man in the world and announced back in February that he would be committing $10 billion to an initiative to combat climate change, named the Bezos Earth Fund.
While we do know which arena Seattle’s NHL team will be playing in, we don’t know what the name of the team will be. As we’ve been eagerly awaiting details of the team name, logo and colours, fans have been creating mock concepts for the NHL’s newest franchise. Some of the most popular mock concepts have been the “Seattle Murder Hornets” and the “Seattle Kraken”.
Seattle’s NHL team is set to begin play in the 2021-22 season. The expansion draft will take place during the 2021 offseason and will follow the same rules that the Vegas Golden Knights had back in 2017 when they entered the league.
With Seattle’s arena name and information announced, it’s only a matter of time before we get all the details on the NHL’s 32nd NHL team.