Seattle Impressively Supporting Kraken, Season Ticket Wait List is Insane

Looking to get season tickets to watch the Seattle Kraken — the NHL’s newest expansion franchise — when the NHL goes back to a normal life outside the Canadian bubbles? Join the crowd that has built up on the Kraken season ticket waiting list. Don’t plan on getting season tickets anytime soon. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan has the staggering numbers the Kraken have been able to put up just a couple weeks into existence:

According to Kaplan, the Kraken report that since their name was revealed, they have a 35 % increase in their season ticker-holder waiting list. The total, originally at 39,000 fans, has skyrocketed to 51,000 on the wait list.

The NHL awarded Seattle a franchise in 2018 for a $650 million expansion fee, which is a record. The Golden Knights payed $500 million.

In comparison, as of September 2019, the Green Bay Packers season ticket wait is 137,000 names deep. Sure, if the Kraken are terrible over a few years, the waiting list is going to collapse as people refuse to buy season tickets, but 51,000 is still 51,000 and shows at this point Seattle won’t be some forgotten outpost where the NHL can’t survive.

It’s not just the season ticket waiting list that has gone insane, merchandise sales are through the roof. The Seattle Times reports merchandise sales “across all platforms of online retail giant Fanatics are roughly four times greater than the opening two-week sales for the NHL’s prior 2017 expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights.”

The Kraken will play in Climate Pledge Arena, which will be a completely refurbished Key Arena located on the Seattle Center footprint that also includes the Space Needle. It’ll seat 17,100 for NHL games.

A legend from the deep awakens.

Meet the Seattle Kraken → https://t.co/to5BtVVPh1 pic.twitter.com/FQfOdaiGQQ

— Seattle Kraken (@NHLSeattle_) July 23, 2020

That moment when you unfurl a 50-foot-long banner (that’s five stories high) to officially Release the Kraken.

See more → https://t.co/kJO5mddzczpic.twitter.com/YYQLDnmfuv

— Seattle Kraken (@NHLSeattle_) July 31, 2020