From The December 26, 2022 Edition Of The Hockey News
Editor's Note: Immediately below is the lead from The Hockey News' annual "Money and Power" issue, followed by a Q&A with Seattle Kraken co-owner Samantha Holloway.
Saturday, a video clip from THN publisher W. Graeme Roustan's interview with Holloway, covering topics not included in this story.
"The Game Changers on the front page of the gatefold cover of this issue are Samantha Holloway, who, along with her family, are the majority owners of the Seattle Kraken; Kim Davis, an NHL senior executive vice-president; and Valerie Camillo, the president and CEO of Spectacor Sports & Entertainment, owner of the Philadelphia Flyers.
"Collectively, they are the trifecta of game changers of the NHL – with one representative from the NHL owners’ suite, the NHL executive team and NHL team’s front office."
THE CHAIR OF THE KRAKEN’S EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND THE ORGANIZATION’S NEW CO-OWNER TALKS ABOUT HER FUTURE GOALS AND TRANSITIONING FROM TECH
December 26, 2022 / Vol. 76, Issue 08
W. GRAEME ROUSTAN: I’d like to start with Tod Leiweke.
SAMANTHA HOLLOWAY: I’ve gotten to know Tod very well over the last few years. And we have a great group of investors and partners. But none of it (would) be possible without Tod. He is a tremendous orchestrator of difficult things. And he knows everyone. He works with integrity. And he helped our family and the rest of the ownership group build the right team to build the organization with integrity from the ground up.
WGR: Let’s go to the arena itself. How did the building work out for you as an operator?
SH: The fan experience is there and people are wowed by the building. Our partnership with the Oak View Group, it’s been amazing. And it’s been great for other teams, as well for the (WNBA) Storm and for concerts. And it’s a great home to the NHL, and…it’s built with sustainability. It’s core to our values. And it’s building on a fan experience, which is very important to us as we build the hockey-viewership system.
WGR: You have an IT and technology background. How different is it to go from the tech world to sports and entertainment?
SH: There’s a lot of similarities. At the end of the day, it’s an organization, and it’s all about the people, right? And you want to support those people because they’re your greatest asset.
It is very different in that…it can be emotional, right? And so you’re watching the game, and how do you separate the business from emotion? So that’s been interesting. And there’s technology involved as well. So it’s an interesting transition. And it’s not as difficult as I thought it would be. But, of course, there’s always more to learn.
WGR: Now, because it’s the Seattle market. It’s a technology center anyway, right? So you must be very comfortable in Seattle.
SH: As you mentioned, the tech world out there is growing, it’s very big. I came from Denver, where the tech community is, it’s wonderful and growing, but it’s not as big as Seattle. So it’s been a great transition to meet a bunch of folks in the industry and continue to work on those muscles. But it’s a great mix of tech and sports.
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