This artists rendering released Thursday, July 23, 2020, by the Seattle Kraken, shows the NHL hockey team's new logo, left, and name, displayed in what would be their finished arena. (Seattle Kraken via AP)
By Tim Booth
The NHL's newest team finally has its name: the Seattle Kraken.
The expansion franchise unveiled its nickname Thursday, ending 19 months of speculation about whether the team might lean traditional or go eccentric with the name for the league's 32nd team.
"The Kraken is a name born of the fans. It was suggested and championed by the fans," Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke said.
In opting for the sea creature of Scandinavian folklore, Seattle bypassed options like Sockeyes, Evergreens, or Metropolitans, the last of which would have been a nod to Seattle's hockey history. There was even a push from some fans for the team to try to acquire the Thunderbirds name from the local junior team.
But Kraken was a clear favorite among fans, who rallied around the name soon after the expansion franchise was awarded in December 2018. The enthusiasm has grown since the team built toward its debut for the 2021-22 season.
It's edgy and sounds menacing. And it gave the franchise a clear brand going forward.
"I think that we felt like this is so authentic and noble, and we hit all the main things that we really wanted that we feel really strongly that this is the right choice," Heidi Dettmer, Seattle's vice president of marketing, told The Associated Press. "I've totally fallen in love with this brand and I think our fans will."
Seattle also unveiled its primary colors, which will be a deep dark blue — almost black — and a lighter shade of blue as a complement.
Unlike with the last NHL expansion team in Las Vegas, there should be no trademark issues with Kraken. The Vegas Golden Knights ran into problems with the U.S. Army and it took several years for the trademark battle to be settled.
The unveiling of Seattle's name has been expected for months, only to have it run into delays. It was first thought to be targeted for late last year in the hope of products hitting the market prior to the holiday season.
Then the NHL All-Star break in January was thought to be a possibility. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, where the initial epicenter in the U.S. was the Seattle area.
Dettmer said the name itself was chosen right around the first of the year. The time since has been spent on finalizing the primary and secondary logos while working with the league's uniform provider, Adidas.
Nic Corbett, the director of NHL relations with Adidas, said the primary logo is a Kraken tentacle shaped into an 'S' and is a nod to the Seattle Metropolitans logo. The Metropolitans were the first American team to win the Stanley Cup in 1917.
"We needed a mark that was noble and (Seattle GM) Ron Francis was someone who kept hitting that home," Corbett told the AP. "It has to be noble, it has to be strong."
Former NFL QB Lester Ricard Jr. joins Cheddar Bets to discuss playing--and beating--the same team three times in a season ahead of the NFC Championship Game.
Sponsored by BetMGM
Brian Bennett, College Basketball Senior Editor of The Athletic, joins Cheddar Bets to share his methods for forecasting long-term success for college basketball's top programs.
Sponsored by BetMGM
Super Group, the company behind leading global online sports betting and gaming businesses Betway and Spin, has landed on Wall Street. The company went public via SPAC with Sports Entertainment Acquisition Corp., and now lists on the NYSE under the ticker symbol 'SGHC.' This debut comes as the U.S. sports betting market continues to heat up with more and more states legalizing the practice. Eric Grubman, chairman of Super Group, joined Cheddar to discuss.
Olivia Harlan Dekker and Sean Green provide their insight and top picks after studying the early lines for Super Bowl LIV, while Chris Spagnuolo breaks down betting trends from this NFL season using data and analytics. Sponsored by BetMGM.
Eight months after the National Football League announced $1 million in research into cannabinoids, the NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee has awarded the funding to two teams of medical researchers at the University of California San Diego and the University of Regina. The NFL says the studies will investigate the effects of cannabinoids on pain management and neuroprotection from concussion in elite football players, respectively. Cheddar correspondent Chloe Ailello spoke with Jeff Miller, the executive vice president of communications, public affairs, and policy for the NFL, about the studies, as well as the recent lawsuit filed against the NFL by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. "Maybe we can learn things from other alternative pain approaches that are going to benefit our player population and then sports medicine as a whole," Miller said.
Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL over racial discrimination, exposing a long-running problem the NFL has had with diversity in its top coaching and management positions. Eric Mitchell, the president and CEO of public relations and communications company LifeFlip Media, joined Cheddar News to delve into the scandal rocking the pro football world just before the Super Bowl. "There is a problem. If you look at who owns teams in the NFL, it's right, it's a good old boys club, it's a bunch of old white guys," he said. "So, it's exposing something that's been around for ages and now that we're sitting in 2022 has come up."
This April, Madison Square Garden will be hosting the first-ever women's boxing match to headline at the arena in its 140 years of history in boxing. Undisputed lightweight champion, Katie Taylor, and seven-division champion, Amanda Serrano, will go head-to-head for a career-high guaranteed seven-figure purse for both of them. The pair joined Cheddar News to talk about the upcoming "fight of their lives." "I mean, this is the first step I believe," said Serrano. "Unheard of, two women headlining the Garden, we get in the biggest paydays of our career, I hope it continues to break down barriers."
A year after announcing plans for a name change, Washington, DC's NFL team has settled on Commanders. The update comes after receiving years of criticism for the previous nickname deemed highly offensive by Native American groups and communities.
