Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena celebrates big kick-off week

Residents, arena stakeholders and local and state officials, including Gov. Jay Inslee celebrated the grand opening of Climate Pledge Arena Friday through Sunday.

The celebration kicked off with a ribbon cutting ceremony Friday in which officials and stakeholders lauded the efforts behind the opening of the new arena at the Seattle Center in Uptown.

The arena, which cost $1.15 billion to renovate, broke ground in December 2018 and wrapped up early fall. It is the first net-zero arena for greenhouse gas emissions.

In his remarks, Inslee congratulated the Oak View Group, the arena's development company, for its commitment to building an environmentally friendly facility.

“This commitment to sustainability impacts us now and well into the future because the future of commercial construction has a critical role to play in reducing the emissions that are harming our communities, our climate, our seas, our forests and the Earth itself," Inslee said.

The 800,000-square-foot arena is home to the NHL Seattle Kraken, the four-time WNBA champions Seattle Storm and Seattle University teams. It has a 17,100-person capacity for hockey and a 18,100 capacity for basketball fans. When not used for athletics, the arena will host more than 100 events and concerts per year.

On Saturday evening, the Seattle Kraken played their opening game at their new home, falling to the Canucks, 4-2.

Visit climatepledgearena.com to learn more about Climate Pledge Arena.