Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena Is A Gem

We’re getting closer. Just 21 days (at the time of writing) until opening night, which will see the Seattle Kraken travel to Calgary to face the Flames. With a few weeks still to go, we’re going to take a look at Climate Pledge Arena, the host of the Seattle Kraken and a gem of the Pacific Northwest.

One might ask themselves – – why? There is so much to be hyped about, so many numbers to look at, so many scheduling avenues to explore with the season so close to beginning.

The arena, the fans, the experience, the food – it’s all part of the new season. It’s all part of the excitement. There’ll be plenty of time for numbers and schedules. For now, let’s jump into a sometimes underappreciated portion of the excitement.

Home ice.

Sustainability In Seattle

Oak View Group – the owner of the arena and One Roof Sports & Entertainment – the parent company of Climate Pledge Arena- have been hard at work turning the arena into one of the finest venues in the NHL. At a construction and development cost of over a billion dollars, CPA famously achieved ILFI Net-Zero Carbon Certified, showing the group’s commitment to sustainability. In furtherance of that idea, the arena features a system that uses rainwater to fill a 15,000-gallon cistern that is then used to resurface the ice.

Even further, the site features 12,500 plants and trees, including the Climate Pledge Living Wall, one of the largest of its type in the country and home to twenty-seven different species of plants and covering over 1,700 square feet. Of course, sustainability isn’t the only feature of the arena, as at the time of its opening, Climate Pledge Arena featured the most square feet of digital signage – 28,175 – and pixels – over 145 million – for any sports venue in the world.

Under One Roof

Way back before the Kraken were even a glimmer in hockey’s eye, the Climate Pledge Arena was, more or less, at the site of the Washington State Pavilion, to be part of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. The roof, a marvel for its time, was designed in honor of the cedar rain hats worn by the Salish people, indigenous to the Pacific Northwest. Thanks in part to the history of the venue, and its unique architecture, Seattle’s Preservation Board gave the roof landmark status – which legally meant it had to be saved during any alterations to the venue.

To keep in line with the rules that come along with landmark status, the building of the new arena while preserving the roof was nothing short of a truly remarkable engineering success story. Despite many engineers claiming a modern, NHL-ready arena was impossible given the need to keep the roof, that’s exactly what happened. Incredibly, while the arena work was being done, the roof was held in place by seventy-two steel columns.

This allowed construction crews to move nearly seven hundred thousand yards of soil in an effort to move the arena fifty-three feet deeper into the ground. From there, construction crews utilized twenty original columns, removed the temporary columns and, with that, the roof, the historic landmark that it is, found itself happily resting in place on the reconstructed facility. This extraordinary engineering feat is just one of the many reasons fans in and around the Seattle area have a venue they can be proud of.

Home

As Seattle works to prove that Climate Pledge Arena is as much an imposing place to play as it is a sustainability marvel, 2025-2026 saw them return to their winning ways at home, skating to a 19-17-5 record. This undoubtedly leaves room for improvement, but shows a better home record than they achieved in 2024-2025, which was 18–18–5. For their part, the fans have done their job, routinely filling up the arena, which has a capacity of 17,15. This means that for the 2025-2026 season, the Kraken boasted a 100.3% attendance-to-capacity ratio. And anyone who’s seen the Kraken play on home ice knows that the narrative some people have about a polite crowd isn’t always reflected in the noise generated on home ice.

The Grub

One of the most important parts of an NHL arena on game night is the food. We can all agree on that. Thankfully, Climate Pledge Arena has no shortage of offerings in that department.

You won’t just find the standard hot dog and popcorn affair when watching the Kraken play. Historically, the venue has offered items such as shucked oysters, Ahi Tuna Bowls and Impossible Chilli Dogs for our Vegan friends. If those offerings don’t get your taste buds working, perhaps Crispy Brussel Sprouts or Watermelon Sashimi will do the trick – both of which have historically been offered.

What’s Most Important

With all this said, all the history, all the engineering, all the food – what really matters is the product on the ice. The 2025-2026 edition of the Seattle Kraken will look to develop consistency in an effort to track down the big boys in the division – Las Vegas, Edmonton, and Los Angeles.