So, as I have mentioned before, I was born and raised in Canada, which basically means I am genetically required to love hockey. I love watching and playing sports of all kinds, but hockey always has a special place in my heart. I was four years old the first time I was thrown out on the ice, and while I would love to say I was a really good player, that would be an outright lie. I was always a smaller kid and my skating wasn’t great, so while I loved the game it was certainly not going to be my calling in life. In fact, I was a whole lot better of a baseball player, but when I had to choose between the sports, (my parents decreed that I could only plan one or the other), I still stuck with hockey.
I am a full blown Toronto Maple Leafs fan, with all of the pain and suffering that goes with that statement. They are my team and I have stuck with them through a lot of horrible seasons, and while there is certainly a whole lot more optimism in Leafs Land thanks to a great stable of young players, all Leafs’ fans fully expect the team to find a way to kick us when we are not looking. Come on, you know you are in trouble when your team completely disregards the requirements of grammar and the English language in the team name. Leafs? Yeah, that sounds like proper English.
But, this post is actually not about the Leafs, it is about the upcoming NHL expansion team in Seattle and the Green Initiatives they are already undertaking before even drafting their first player, let alone hitting the ice for the first time.
After previously announcing that they had worked with the city so that not only would the arena be fully serviced by public transit, but that included with every ticket would be free use of the system to and from the game, the team had more announcements this week. Unsurprisingly given their location, the naming rights to the arena were purchased by Amazon, but what was a surprise is that the Amazon name and logo won’t be appearing on the building. They have decided to officially name the arena Climate Pledge Arena. In addition to the name, the building will support some excellent green initiatives:
- Ice for hockey games will be made from recaptured rain water
- All events will be “zero waste”
- The arena will have all-electric operations
- At least 75% of the arena’s food program will be locally sourced and seasonally based
Any one of those initiatives would be a highlight, but with a name that is meant to draw attention to an issue that the current U.S. government is actually working against, one can only hope that this will be a beacon for other similar types of business. Professional sports are not always thought of as forward thinking, which is in fact very untrue if you actually dig in a bit, but by modeling the way the Seattle franchise will hopefully build a fan base for their team but also for their environmental business practices.
For a great recap of everything that they are planning with this building check out the great article here from ESPN.
I tell you, if they follow through and name this team the Seattle Krakens, it is going to be a very serious threat to my team loyalty. No good Viking can ignore strong environmental cred coupled with what could be the best Viking name for a hockey team ever. If nothing else, I will go out of my way to take in a game and hopefully get a tour of this great new facility once we are roaming about the country again.
Feel free to share your favorite sport/team and anything they are doing from a green or community approach that you think helps set them above their peers.
The Free Range Viking
The Free Range Viking 