The American multinational technology company Amazon has broadened its horizons as it recently announced its new purchase of naming rights to a Seattle sports arena, renaming it "Climate Pledge Arena”.
The news of Amazon’s naming rights acquisition surfaced on Instagram when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced the change in a post, saying its name was chosen as a regular reminder of the urgent need for climate action.
“I’m excited to announce that Amazon has bought the naming rights to the historic Seattle arena previously known as KeyArena. Instead of calling it Amazon Arena, we’re naming it Climate Pledge Arena as a regular reminder of the urgent need for climate action.”
“It will be the first net zero carbon certified arena in the world, generate zero waste from operations and events, and use reclaimed rainwater in the ice system to create the greenest ice in the NHL,” he said in an Instagram post.
The facility, currently called the New Arena at Seattle Center but formerly known as KeyArena, was the home of the Seattle SuperSonics NBA team and is the home of the Seattle Storm WNBA team, which temporarily relocated to University of Washington's arena.
The e-commerce company has outlined some other climate-focused changes its making to the arena in a press release:
The arena will be powered solely by electricity and will have on-site solar panels
Nearly 75% of the arena's food will be locally sourced and unused food will be donated
Tickets to WNBA and NHL games can also be used for free public transit rides
Single-use plastics will be banned, according to NHL Seattle, and there will be no trash cans on-site, only recycling and composting bins
The arena's 44-million-pound roof will be reused in the new construction