Amazon is adding a little promotional branding on the helmets of the Seattle Kraken, the city’s new NHL team set to take the ice for its inaugural season next month. The tech giant’s smile logo will be affixed to both sides of midnight blue helmets that the Kraken will wear for home games, the team revealed Tuesday.
When the team is away from its home at Climate Pledge Arena, white helmets will feature decals that read “The Climate Pledge,” as a way to draw attention to the effort to get businesses to commit to going net zero carbon by 2040.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos first announced the creation of The Climate Pledge in September 2019, setting ambitious greenhouse gas emission goals for the tech giant and urging other companies to do the same. In June 2020, Amazon bought the naming rights to the redeveloped KeyArena in Seattle, and put the Climate Pledge moniker on the 18,100-seat venue.
Sneaked a peek at the @SeattleKraken helmets yet? ????
On the road, each player will rep @climatepledge on their helmet. On home ice, their midnight blue headgear will feature @amazon’s signature smile.
Which is your fav? ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/LgONt8mGcg
— Climate Pledge Arena (@ClimateArena) September 14, 2021
New Amazon CEO Andy Jassy joined Seattle’s NHL team ownership group in September 2018 when he was still head of Amazon Web Services. The expansion team had yet to be awarded to Seattle and redevelopment of KeyArena was still just a proposal.
“As part of the ownership team, we are hopeful that a lot of companies in Seattle and Washington will be interested in being apart of building the hockey community here,” Jassy said at the time, adding that he hoped Amazon would be included in that.
The NHL’s other 31 teams first added corporate sponsor logos to helmets last season in a bid to recover some revenue lost to the COVID-19 pandemic and empty arenas. League Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed in June that the advertising would be sticking around in the 2021-22 season.
Sponsor logos — most likely again including Amazon’s — are coming to team jerseys next season.
The Kraken are scheduled to kick off their inaugural season on Oct. 12 in Las Vegas. The team plays four more games on the road before opening at home on Oct. 23 against the Vancouver Canucks.
Previously:
- Seattle Kraken in the game as EA Sports’ ‘NHL 22’ features new hockey team and new arena
- But is he geeky? New Seattle Kraken player Morgan Geekie talks tech and more with GeekWire
