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New Tours Go Behind the Scenes at Climate Pledge Arena
Seattle’s newest backstage pass brings visitors behind the scenes at Climate Pledge Arena
The most exclusive access to Seattle sports, music, and entertainment just cracked wide open with Climate Pledge Arena’s freshly launched tours walking in the footsteps of industry greats.
The most sustainable arena in the world has a full roster of hosting duties: Kraken and Storm games; Madonna, Janet Jackson, Drake, and Paramore; even special touring events like the summer’s animatronic Jurassic World Live Tour. But when the 18,000-seat venue isn’t prepping the ice or an artist’s green room, there’s still plenty happening.
“It’s like a mini city,” Climate Pledge Arena’s Nick Forro explains of the bustling atmosphere day in, day out. And since February—but really launching in full force this summer—the public can be a part of those inner workings astir with a 75-minute guided tour.
There’s something for everyone at Climate Pledge: music, sports, sustainability, architecture, thrilling behind-the-scenes access, and even a future Sonics locker room ready for the team’s return—wink wink.
To be fair, it’s less of a tour evoking hushed middle school field trip memories and more of an experience.
Behind an “authorized personnel only” sign in the locker room of one of the NHL’s most popular teams, the most comfortable lounge chairs and a jacuzzi await Philipp Grubauer and Jared McCann. Superstition strong as ever, the Kraken logo shines down from the ceiling; walking on it would be an unforgivable sin. There’s even an empty trophy case: “We believe that the Kraken will bring the cup back to Seattle, and when we do, it’ll go right there,” tour guide Joe Vella gestures.
The Kraken cosplaying doesn’t end in the locker room. Tour guests exit the underground lair and head towards the bowl with the full force of thousands of the world’s greatest hockey fans. Talk about making an entrance: a recorded track shakes the hallway with chants and contagious energy as the tour continues into the arena floor, following in the skate steps of every Kraken great.
In another wing of the newly renovated arena, music aficionados are whisked into the world of their favorite recording artists. In an exclusive room artists can use in lieu of a traditional green room, the Amazon Music Artist Lounge features velvet seats and a fully-functioning recording studio for outfits to lay down exclusive tracks. Mementos left behind by touring artists form a type of scrapbook: a bracelet from Billie Eilish and Keith Richards’ signed guitar are now forever part of the room’s decor.
Tours get an inside look into what happens between shows and throwdowns: Chef Molly in the kitchen crafting Northwest flavors—wild Alaskan cod and hedgehog mushrooms—into next-level stadium nosh that proves sustainable food service can be accomplished even on a large scale; truckloads of popcorn bagged and ready ahead of Storm games; converting the ice into a solid floor and back again; crews loading team favorites into respective locker rooms.
Plus, behind-the-scenes Easter eggs like protective cages over a lone exit sign and security camera to ward off stray soccer balls during the Kraken’s pre-game ritual of a hacky-sack-like pickup game. And a secret artist escape tunnel also inspires curiosity.
For architecture buffs, there’s the roof inspired by native Salish cedar-woven rain hats, original to the 1962 construction —and all 44-million-pounds of it that appeared to float in mid-air during the 2018-2021 remodel.
Sustainability is a given but goes beyond the arena’s name. Tours stop at a hydroponic living wall of thriving native plants and discover that the roof design is more than aesthetic: it diverts rainwater to underground cisterns en route to becoming the ice for Kraken games. Visiting teams even remark that it plays like pond ice thanks to its natural sourcing.
Seattle locals and visiting tourists alike can find some magic inside the arena walls. Plus, each tour is a bit different depending on what game, concert, or experience that mini city preps for on any given day.
These tours are years in the making, ready at long last for curious visitors this summer. Climate Pledge Arena is a beacon for sustainability just steps from the Space Needle, and tours are another chance to tell that impactful story when there’s no event—putting the space to good use year round, all while giving folks an exclusive peek behind the curtain.
For more information about touring Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, visit
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