Macklemore is now a minority owner of NHL team Seattle Kraken with former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch. The pair join Kraken Investor Group alongside founder/majority owner David Bonderman and executive committee chairperson Samantha Holloway, and are set to “lead Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena initiatives to connect with hockey fans, music lovers and community members” in their new roles.
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“I am a Seattle sports fan through and through, have been my entire life,” Macklemore told the NHL. “I think that sports define a city. They bring people together. It gives us one common purpose to root for. It’s really the spirit of the city in so many ways, and to be a part of that new era that is the Kraken, that is the NHL in Seattle, that is the new arena, to do that was a no-brainer in terms of the opportunity.”
He added, “It’s just something that I can’t really even put into words. It’s a big moment for myself, for Marshawn — we’re both super pumped to be involved — for my family and for the future.”
Macklemore didn’t grow up a hockey fan due to Seattle not having an NHL team until 2021, but watching his nephew play a youth game in Florida changed everything.
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“Within a couple minutes, I was, like, up against the glass screaming, completely into it and I was like, ‘OK, I get hockey now,'” he explained. “I didn’t get it before just watching it on TV. To see live and in person, the speed and just the intensity and the aggression overall, really drew me in. So the minute it was announced that we were getting a team in Seattle, I was like, ‘OK, this is going to be something that I’m going to get into.'”
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He also spoke more about the Climate Pledge Arena and the opportunities it provides outside of sports, while also combining both worlds.
“We have a really cool opportunity with Climate Pledge because it’s not just sports,” Macklemore said. “We have an arena that puts on some of the best concerts in the world, a state-of-the-art sound system, everything is brand new. It sounds amazing. I’ve been to a couple shows.”
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He continued, “So there’s that side of it, but there’s also what type of activation can we do while there are sporting events, and I think that the Kraken have done a great job of imagining local musicians in this space and giving folks a platform that they normally wouldn’t have to be able to perform in different pockets of the arena while sporting events are going on.”
Macklemore and Marshawn Lynch attended the Seattle Kraken’s win against the Ottawa Senators on Monday (April 18), with Macklemore even reading out the starting lineup in the locker room.
