Kraken make addition to uniforms, paying tribute to late owner
Dec 12, 2024, 7:10 PM
A patch honoring late Seattle Kraken owner David Bonderman on a jersey on Dec. 12, 2024. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The Seattle Kraken have found a fitting way to use their uniforms to honor a person instrumental to their existence.
The Kraken took the ice in competition Thursday night for the first time since David Bonderman, the founding owner of the NHL franchise, died Wednesday at the age of 82. When Seattle did, there was an addition to the Kraken’s sweaters: a patch that reads “Bondo” on top of the iconic red eye from the team’s logo.
For Bondo 💙 pic.twitter.com/P8A2OxkVfd
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) December 13, 2024
What makes the patch so fitting is that “Bondo” came up with the idea for the red eye himself.
In an article on the Kraken’s website, writer Geoff Baker shared the story of Bonderman’s stroke of genius.
It was in final logo design meetings in 2019 that Kraken founding owner Bonderman, looked at the ‘S’ shaped figure being presented and felt something was missing. Having stayed silent through most of the meeting, he stood up and quietly suggested adding a red dot to the logo – symbolizing the creature’s eye – and the rest is now history.
‘For a man that talked as quietly and softly as he did, I never saw anybody command a room quite like he did,’ said Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke, the man who’d brought Bonderman to Seattle in 2017 to be the majority owner of the future Kraken. ‘When he had something to say, everybody in the room stopped and listened.’
Seattle’s players also had stickers with the same design on their helmets during practice Wednesday.
To the visionary behind the Kraken red eye 💙🩵 pic.twitter.com/VyEo32ZxsQ
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) December 11, 2024
Bonderman was a Los Angeles native who developed ties to Seattle as a student in the 1960s at the University of Washington, a time in which he also worked as a security guard at the Space Needle at Seattle Center. After amassing a fortune as co-founder of global alternative asset management firm TPG (Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $6.5 billion in March 2023), Bonderman would return to Seattle Center decades later by playing an integral role in the effort to build Climate Pledge Arena under the roof of the former Seattle Coliseum and bring the NHL to the city.
Bonderman stepped down as Seattle Kraken executive chair in 2022 when he was replaced by his daughter, Samantha Holloway, who also joined him as a co-owner of the team.
The Kraken played at home in Seattle on Tuesday night at Climate Pledge Arena against the Boston Bruins. Bonderman also had ties to Beantown, as he was a minority owner of the NBA’s Boston Celtics.
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