Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke is ready for fans to see Climate Pledge Arena

Seattle hockey fans have less than a week before the regular season starts and Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke says Climate Pledge Arena is the perfect home.

“The arena that is now just getting finished is just spectacular,” Leiweke told Wyman and Bob last week. “The arena is turning out to be so unbelievable. It’s steep, it’s intimate, it’s beautiful. The architects just did an unbelievable job. We preserved the roof, but everything is brand new.

“I’ve been in this business a long time, and I really believe this is the most beautiful arena in the world. We did not cut a corner.”

Leiweke said even the concerts will be better as much attention has been paid to the acoustics inside the building.

“We had an entire baffling system put in, acoustical curtains put in that come down on the beautiful glass that’s now reappeared, a loading dock with eight bays so that shows can literally load in and out at the same time,” he described.

And artists no longer have to hang out in a smelly locker room. They get a refurbished artist quadrant with private locker rooms. Amazon also built a recording studio inside the arena so that artists don’t have to go out to their buses to record.

“We really want it to be one of the busiest music venues in North America,” Leiweke said.

Shows at Climate Pledge Arena will kick off with the Foo Fighters and Death Cab for Cutie on Oct. 19 and then Coldplay on Oct. 22 – before the Kraken home opener against Vancouver on Saturday, Oct. 23.

“We feel like we’re building something special here because we have special fans,” Leiweke said.

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