Buoy, a sea troll partly inspired by the famous Fremont Troll sculpture in Seattle, debuted before the Kraken played the Vancouver Canucks in a preseason game at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday and soon will appear in spots all over town.
Click here to read the story at seattletimes.com.
Discussion Questions:
- What is branding?
- Why is branding important to a pro sports franchise?
- Why do sports teams have mascots?
- Why do you think the Kraken waited until the team’s second season to introduce a mascot?
- How do you think the team determined the mascot name?
- In your opinion, and based on what you read in this news story, is the mascot a good representation of the community? Why is that important?
- What are community relations?
- How will having a mascot benefit the franchise from a community relations perspective?
- In lesson 7.4 of your textbook (The Business of Sports and Entertainment), we discuss the concept of taking an empathetic approach to sales. How might this story represent an example of that concept?
- Why would the franchise want fan input on the team’s mascot?