NHL Seattle, Laborers Union announce official partnership

The following is from LIUNA Northwest Region:

SEATTLE (Jan. 27, 2020) — Oak View Group (OVG) and Seattle Hockey Partners (NHL Seattle) last Thursday announced the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) as the official union partner of NHL Seattle, the New Arena at Seattle Center, and Northgate Ice Centre.

LIUNA members are among the hundreds of people currently helping to build the New Arena at Seattle Center. The union was previously involved in the construction of the Washington state pavilion in 1962 and the 1994 remodel of the Coliseum.

LIUNA Local 242 Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer Dale Cannon and NHL Seattle CEO, Tod Leiweke.

As part of the partnership, a custom installation will be co-created and permanently displayed in the New Arena to commemorate LIUNA’s history at the location dating back decades. LIUNA’s logo will also be prominently displayed in corner in-ice locations for all regular season NHL Seattle games.

“This redevelopment stands as a testament to LIUNA Local 242, the City of Seattle and NHL Seattle’s commitment to the residents of our city,” said Local 242 Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer Dale Cannon.

“This is a complex construction project to create a brand new Arena under an historic roof,” said Ken Johnsen, Executive Vice President for Construction. “The work going on every day at the site is so impressive and critical to the success of this project. We could not be more grateful to the LIUNA members and I can’t wait for people to see the amazing arena they have built.”

“We are honored that The New Arena and the home of the team is being proudly built by LIUNA members,” added NHL Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke. “We respect the history of this building, just as we respect the decades of work they have done here.”

(From left) Washington & Northern Idaho District Council of Laborers Business Manager Jermaine Smiley, LIUNA Local 242 Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer Dale Cannon, and LIUNA Northwest Vice President & Regional Manager Bob Abbott.

LIUNA members are a skilled and experienced union workforce trained to work safely in the construction and energy industries. Members work in construction, hazardous waste remediation, health care, education, maintenance, food service, clerical aviation, and state and local governments. LIUNA also offers training with topics ranging from job-site health and safety classes to fully-fledged, hands-on skills and training.

NHL Seattle’s inaugural season at the New Arena at Seattle Center begins in 2021. Latest updates can be found here.

The LIUNA Northwest Region represents over 47,000 members of LIUNA with over 13,000 working men and women within the Washington and Northern Idaho District Council of Laborers. The District Council includes LIUNA Local 242 and six other affiliated Locals in the state of Washington. These members are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of workers who are proud to build America.

Seattle Hockey Partners (NHL Seattle) is responsible for leading the development activities of the newly awarded Seattle National Hockey League franchise, which is set to play its inaugural season in 2021-22 at the New Arena at Seattle Center, developed by Oak View Group. Click here for the latest news and information from the team including press releases, multimedia content and the latest hires. Follow NHL Seattle on social media to find out the latest news via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Or search using the hashtag #NHLSeattle.

Oak View Group (OVG) is a global sports and entertainment company founded by Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff in 2015. OVG is focused on being a positive disruption to business as usual in the sports and live entertainment industry and currently has 8 divisions across 4 global offices (Los Angeles, New York, London and Philadelphia). OVG is leading the redevelopment and operations of the New Arena at Seattle Center as well as leading arena development projects in Belmont, NY, Austin, TX and Milan, Italy.  OVG Global Partnerships, a division of OVG, is the sales and marketing arm responsible for selling across all OVG Arena Development projects. Click here for the latest information and news on the arena.

The Stand (Aug. 1, 2018) — New $700 million Seattle Center arena will be union built, run — The Oak View Group (OVG) and the Seattle Hockey Partners (SHP) announced Tuesday that union contractor Skanska/Hunt will build the $700 million arena at Seattle Center with a Community Workforce Agreement. “This will start a lot of great careers for construction apprentices,” said Nicole Grant, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of MLK Labor. “This is a union arena operated by workers from UNITE HERE 8, Teamsters 117, IATSE 15, LIUNA, IUOE 286, UFCW 21, IBEW 46 and a dozen more.”