Seattle buzzing ahead of Winter Classic between Kraken, Golden Knights

Steve Mayer believes the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights will rank among one of the best outdoor games of all-time.

The chief content officer at the NHL said he can feel the buzz in Seattle, where the Kraken will host the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Park on Jan. 1 (3 p.m. ET; MAX, TNT, truTV, SN, TVAS).

“We’re going to be sold out again, the buzz is crazy in the town, and everything about it is just outstanding,” Mayer said Thursday. “This is a great one. I think it’s so unique in the two teams that are playing and I’m really looking forward to it. I think it’ll be one of our best ones ever.”

The Kraken will be playing in their first outdoor game in their third NHL season. Mayer said one of the goals of the game is to showcase the city of Seattle and promote some of its iconic landmarks.

“Wherever we go in any of these outdoor games, we want to make it where any fan watching, no matter where they live in North America and around the world, that they know immediately that we’re broadcasting from Seattle,” Mayer said. “The thought process always starts with the city you’re in and what makes the city unique and why we’re here.”

Seattle welcomed the Kraken’s arrival and supported the team from the opening drop of the puck. The Kraken qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in their second season, eliminating the defending 2022 Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference First Round. Seattle lost to the Dallas Stars in seven games in the second round.

Mayer said the television broadcast will incorporate many of the famous Seattle landmarks such as the Space Needle, Pike Place Market and The Seattle Great Wheel, a giant Ferris wheel located on Pier 57.

“We want to lean into the story of a new franchise that represents the League and what the League is all about,” Mayer said. “The beauty of the Kraken and the Golden Knights is how they’ve established themselves; their fan bases are passionate and rabid, they’ve done so well, they brought hockey to places that didn’t have it before. This says everything that you need to know about the NHL. And to lean into the environment here, the water, the boating, where it’s located, the Pacific Northwest, all those things come in to play when you’re creating what this is about.”

Playing the game at T-Mobile Park, the home of Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners, also gives Mayer and his staff a unique opportunity transforming the stadium into a hockey venue. Renderings for how the stadium will look were unveiled by the NHL on Thursday.

“To be in this incredible stadium actually works really well for us because of the sight lines, the sections are raised, so you’re able to build things that have some height,” Mayer said. “So we build some set pieces, like a boat that is in center field that is shipwrecked, and it’s shipwrecked because of the tentacles of the Kraken. These are the kinds of things we’re able to do here that we weren’t able to do in other stadiums.”

The NHL also announced the musical acts performing at the event, which includes Seattle native Sir Mix-A-Lot and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band Heart.

“Being in a baseball stadium there is so much room in the outfield, and for stadiums like this one that has a pretty significant amount of seats in the outfield, and you want to be able to entertain those people as well,” Mayer said. “The guy who is sitting in right field, you want him to say, ‘I was sitting right next to the stage for Heart, and the guy in left field, ‘That was where the TNT studio was, and I got to see Wayne Gretzky all night.’ You really had to think of what each fan’s experience will be. It’s always unique and it’s always a little different, but we’re trying to make sure that each fan, no matter where they are in the stadium, get this incredible experience, something they’re always going to remember.”

Mayer said the NHL was also fortunate for the matchup, with the Kraken hosting the defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights. Vegas entered the NHL as an expansion team for the 2017-2018 season and won the Stanley Cup in its sixth season.

“When we decided to do this game, we decided to do a matchup of the two latest expansion teams and little did we know that one of them was going to be the Stanley Cup champ,” Mayer said. “We got lucky. I was with them the night before opening night, the entire team we took to the (Las Vegas) Raiders (NFL) game and the next night was their banner raising, and I am not kidding when I tell you all they could talk about was the outdoor game. They were so psyched. Remember, Vegas played in an outdoor game (2021), but it was without any fans in Lake Tahoe. So this is the first time they’ll be playing in front of the crowd.”