NHL team Seattle Kraken has announced a new jersey branding deal with the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe.
The partnership will make Kraken the first team in all four of the major US professional sports leagues that has decorated its jersey with a Native American tribe currently holding no affiliation with a casino.
Muckleshoot Vice Chairman Donny Stevenson commented: “To be able to assert our place and our identity within the city, within the region, with organisations like the Kraken, it’s hugely important and it’s hugely meaningful and really a powerful step for our tribe, for our people.”
The deal also entails that a sports court is to be built on Muckleshoot Reservation land, more Indigenous culture installations at the Climate Pledge Arena used by the Kraken for team purposes, as well as the establishment of hockey programs for Indigenous youth.
Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke said: “One dream I have is young people throughout the Pacific Northwest who perhaps haven’t felt a part of it will now feel a part of it.
“A dream of mine is someday a young person learns this support and succeeds, and maybe someday a young Muckleshoot kid wears that jersey with that patch on it.”
