Seattle’s new NHL arena will be called ‘Climate Pledge Arena,’ in naming deal with Amazon
Seattle’s new NHL team is going to have the world’s first-of-its-kind arena. With a very Seattle name.
NHL Seattle and the Oak View Group that is building the venue in Seattle Center announced Thursday the new hockey venue under the historic KeyArena roof will be called Climate Pledge Arena. It is part of a naming-rights agreement with Amazon.
NHL Seattle, Oak View Group and Amazon say this is “nothing short of a transformational partnership for the city and Pacific Northwest, sports and entertainment industries — and the planet.
“The partnership was formed to make the Climate Pledge Arena the first zero-carbon arena in the world, powered exclusively by renewable energy, including both on-site and offsite solar rather than the widespread standard use of natural gas in arenas and stadiums.”
Seattle’s still-to-be-named new team will begin play in the National Hockey League’s Western Conference and Pacific Division in the fall of 2021. It will be the NHL’s 32nd franchise.
Climate Pledge Arena is scheduled to open in late summer of 2021.
The team says the 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 National Hockey League.”
“Our goal is to make sure every visit to this arena will be enjoyable and memorable, and sustainability is a large part of that,” said Tim Leiweke, CEO of Oak View Group and leader of the arena project. “It is not just about one arena. It’s the platform. We challenge music, facilities, concert tours and sports. It is our time to step up to face the challenge of our generation. We must take steps to build arenas and stadiums that front-and-center align with our zero-carbon mission statement.”
NHL Seattle and Oak View Group say Climate Pledge Arena will be the first sports and entertainment venue to eventually ban single-use plastics, to be phased out there by 2024, and commit to functional zero waste. The arena will have only compost and recycling bins, no trash cans. The building is committed to being the first arena to be carbon neutral through fully offsetting the carbon emissions of all events and related transportation by fans, sports teams and entertainers.
The franchise says the ice surface the new team will play on will be “the greenest ice in the world using rainwater, refrigerants with zero greenhouse gas emissions.” An electric Zamboni machine will resurface the ice between periods and games.
The goal for Climate Pledge Arena is to earn a Zero Carbon Certification from the International Living Future Institute (ILFI), which provides independent third-party certification for standards for clean energy. The team says its arena would be the world’s first live entertainment venue to achieve ILFI certification.
As part of the agreement with Amazon, Oak View Group and NHL Seattle will make annual contributions to Amazon’s The Climate Pledge, the Seattle-based online retailer’s initiative for companies to reach zero-carbon emissions across all businesses by 2040. That is 10 years ahead of the goal set by the 2015 Paris Agreement for global climate change signed by 195 nations.
“Seattle is a place that values our incredible outdoor resources in the Pacific Northwest,” NHL Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke said. “Right here in our hometown, a company made a challenge, and it was The Climate Pledge. Could we by 2040 change the world and dramatically reduce its carbon footprint? We’re so proud to step forward with other leaders to say, yes we can.”
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 12:02 PM.
