The Kraken Just Made Their NBA Power Play and Seattle Should Be Losing Its Mind
The Emerald City is about to get serious about bringing basketball back. Kraken owner Samantha Holloway is officially leading a bid to land an NBA expansion franchise after the league announced it will explore bringing teams to Seattle and Las Vegas. This isn't some pipe dream anymore. This is happening.
The Setup Was Too Perfect to Ignore
The timing here is almost too clean. Just days before the NBA's Board of Governors meeting in New York City where expansion talk went down, the Kraken announced they'd grabbed majority ownership of Climate Pledge Arena on Monday. Then they announced the creation of One Roof Sports and Entertainment as an umbrella company for all their sports assets. That includes the arena, the Kraken Community Iceplex, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, and the Memorial Stadium renovation project. This wasn't accidental. This was strategic.
"We started this journey eight years ago intentful to bring the NBA back, and we are going to lean in," Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke said. Controlling Climate Pledge Arena is a massive advantage. Any other bidder would have to negotiate a lease with One Roof S&E or build an entirely new building. The Kraken? They already own the place.
They're Not Cutting Corners
Leiweke made it clear this ownership group knows what it takes to win. Climate Pledge Arena already has locker room space reserved for NBA teams, though the actual locker rooms still need to be built out. The group also needs to figure out a training facility and a G-League affiliate, but these are solvable problems for an organization that just privately funded a world-class arena.
"We're battle-tested. The hardest part of this is now done, and it evaded this community for 15 years," Leiweke said. The arena debate had dragged on since 2000, but this group got it done without public funding and without cutting corners. That track record matters when the NBA is deciding who gets a team.
Holloway Is the Face of This Bid
Samantha Holloway, daughter of original Kraken principal owner David Bonderman, will lead the charge. Bonderman was a minority owner of the Boston Celtics before his death in 2024. That NBA pedigree is real.
Leiweke expressed serious confidence in Holloway and the ownership group's ability to execute flawlessly. "I would say the most important thing in our bid is the ability to do it and do it well," he said. The NBA will want to see no drama, no mistakes, no slips. This group has delivered on that front with the Kraken. They can deliver on it again.
A formal vote on expansion likely won't happen until the NBA Board of Governors meeting in Las Vegas in July. But make no mistake: Seattle's moment is here. The fans are ready. The arena is ready. The ownership is ready. Now it's just a matter of closing the deal.
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This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.