The Seattle Kraken ownership group has launched a parent brand, One Roof Sports and Entertainment, “to support future ambitions” – something that could include owning an NBA expansion Seattle Sonics team.
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The new brand, led by Kraken chair Samantha Holloway, was revealed in a press release Monday morning, along with the announcement that One Roof Sports and Entertainment will become the majority owner of Climate Pledge Arena, where the Kraken play and where a potential NBA expansion team would likely call home.
“The ownership group of the Seattle Kraken, led by Samantha Holloway, today announced the launch of One Roof Sports and Entertainment to oversee a growing portfolio of properties and fuel new opportunities,” the press release reads.
Oak View Group, which oversaw the building of Climate Pledge Arena, will maintain a “significant minority stake” and continue to book and operate the arena “under a long-term agreement,” per the release.
The NBA Board of Governors is expected to approve a vote this week to explore expanding to 32 teams by adding franchises in Seattle and Las Vegas, with the 2028-29 regular season as the target date for the new teams to begin play. It means the NBA is closer than ever to returning a team to Seattle for the first time since the SuperSonics were moved to Oklahoma City in 2008 and became the Thunder.
It has long been speculated that the Kraken ownership would be major players if the NBA made a return to Seattle. Holloway’s father, late Kraken co-founder and co-majority owner David Bonderman, told Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk in 2018 that “if there’s a basketball franchise available, we’re going to go after it.” Bonderman previously was a minority owner of the NBA’s Boston Celtics.
Additionally, Holloway told Bloomberg in 2024 that Seattle would be “an amazing market” for the NBA, and that the league “knows that.”
According to Monday’s release, One Roof Sports and Entertainment will “serve as the umbrella brand for” the Kraken, Climate Pledge Arena, One Roof Foundation, the Kraken Community Iceplex, a partnership with the City of Seattle and Seattle Public Schools in redeveloping a new Memorial Stadium at Seattle Center, and “represent the enterprise’s interest in the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds and Acrisure Arena” in Palm Desert, Calif.
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