Release the Kraken! On Thursday, Seattle's new NHL franchise unveiled its team name and a line of merchandising on their team site.
The Kraken, who will be the NHL's 32nd franchise, will take the ice beginning in the 2021-2022 season. Kraken co-owner Jay Deutsch explained to Cheddar how the franchise came up with its name.
"The fans came out with over 1,000 names suggested. We did a poll locally a year-and-a-half ago." Deutsch said. "Throughout this entire process, the Kraken kept going to the front. That's what we're so excited about. We listened, we heard what the community wanted, we then developed a logo that we felt would be incredible."
Although the team won't be taking the ice for more than a year, they are already pushing merchandising online at releasethekrakenstore.com. Deutsch said that not only is merchandise "hot off the presses," but proceeds are also going to a great cause.
"All net proceeds are going to charity in the local area for youth care and for other community charities that are embedded in taking care of the youth through these COVID times and dealing with bringing the community together around our new mark."
Deutsch also said making the merchandising exclusive to the club for the first month was important for their charitable mission.
"Instead of letting everybody sell it, we said for 30 days, let's take the profits and put it right back into our community, and that's what we did."
The Kraken will be playing at the currently-under-construction Climate Pledge Arena, named by Amazon, which will be the first zero-carbon arena in the world powered exclusively by renewable energy. In addition to playing in such an environmentally-friendly stadium, Deutsch, a Seattle native, says the arena will present an intimidating presence to opponents due to being partially underground.
"It's like a pit. It's almost like a lair. The Kraken's lair you're going to come into." Deutsch added, "It's going to be like fans are on top of the ice. This is going to be, whether you are a fan saying 'I want to go experience this,' or you are the Krakens that are going to come, we are going to release fury on our opponents."
Speaking of fury, Deutsch mentioned he has already been hearing trash talk from nearby regional opponents. But the Kraken co-owner isn't backing down.
"The Kraken's not afraid of a Canuck or a Shark, let's just say that."
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FightCamp is a new fitness company that streams boxing classes from top instructors direct to consumers. The classes can be tailored to the needs of boxers at all levels of expertise ー from newbies to punching pros said co-founder Tommy Duquette.
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The New York Knicks and its jersey sponsor, the website-building platform Squarespace, are doling out assists to four local businesses as part of the second annual "Make It Awards." "Partnering with Squarespace to help those entrepreneurs get their businesses to the next level was something we were very interested in doing and it's been a major hit," said MSG Sports' senior vice president of business operations, Kristin Bernert, in an interview on Cheddar.
The Delaware Blue Coats will make their debut Wednesday night at the brand new Philadelphia 76ers Fieldhouse in Wilmington, Del., and the team will share the spotlight with an arena that boasts five stories, can seat 2,500 fans, and includes three NBA-regulation basketball courts. The flashy new arena was designed to promote youth sports in the state of Delaware and the greater Philadelphia region. "It's all geared towards youth," Chris Heck, the president of the Philadelphia 76ers, told Cheddar.
The NBA is transparent about its approval of legalized, regulated sports betting ー but the league is also clearly communicating that it wants a fair share of the money wagered on its games. "It's our view that if state governments are going to be authorizing private entities, in most cases casinos, to generate significant revenue ー billions of dollars of revenue ー off of the NBA competitions, that the NBA participate in some way," said the NBA's head of fantasy and gaming Scott Kaufman-Ross.
Former Green Bay Packer Ahman Green is a four time Pro Bowler, but he's also an avid gamer. When it comes to Halo he's just another fan that looks up to professionals like Proximitty and LethuL for help with his improving his skills.
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If there's one person aside from the 800,000 unpaid federal workers who is hoping the government shutdown ends soon, it's Keisha Lance Bottoms. The mayor of Atlanta is less than two weeks away from hosting Super Bowl LIII, which is a logistical and security nightmare even when the city's airport *isn't* being slowed down by mass TSA sick-outs. "I'm extremely concerned," Bottoms said of the possibility that the shutdown may continue through Super Bowl weekend.
