The Utah Hockey Club has narrowed down the options for its permanent nickname to three and is giving fans the opportunity to choose the winning candidate.
Smith Entertainment Group announced Wednesday that the three finalists are the Utah Hockey Club, the Utah Mammoth and the Utah Wasatch.
Fans will select from the three names and two potential logos — one logo that would accompany Hockey Club and Wasatch and the other linked to Mammoth.
Hockey Club was the name selected for Utah’s inaugural NHL season after co-owners Ryan and Ashley Smith purchased the contracts of Arizona Coyotes executives, coaches and players.
Maughan estimated Utah will have approximately 15,000 fans at the each of the four home games who will have the opportunity to vote.
The Utah Hockey Club is offering supporters the chance to select the winner of the three options it has selected for its permanent moniker.
The Utah Mammoth, Utah Wasatch, and Utah Hockey Club are the three finalists, according to a statement made by Smith Entertainment Group on Wednesday. The four-game stretch, which started with Wednesday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, will allow fans to cast their ballots at iPad stations positioned throughout Delta Center.
Two possible logos will be available for fans to choose from, one associated with Mammoth and the other with Hockey Club and Wasatch.
Voting will only take place in the arena at this point in the process. Executive Mike Maughan of Smith Entertainment Group stated. That’s what we’re doing because we’re including names and possible logos with them this time. … Due to the logos, we are only performing this in-arena and not displaying it in public to preserve the images. “.”.
Following the conclusion of this season and prior to the start of the following one, Utah intends to reveal the winning name and logo at a later date. Following the purchase of the contracts of Arizona Coyotes executives, coaches, and players by co-owners Ryan and Ashley Smith, the name Hockey Club was chosen for Utah’s first NHL season.
When Utah plays the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday, St., the fan voting will continue. Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday and Louis Blues on Sunday. According to Maughan, there will be roughly 15,000 spectators at each of Utah’s four home games who will be able to cast ballots.
According to Maughan, it is unclear if a second round will be required to choose the winning name and logo, but in the end, the fans will have the last word because Ryan and Ashley Smith view the team as “a community asset.”. “”.
According to Maughan, “[The Smiths] see this as a really exciting opportunity to do something that has never been done in the history of professional sports, which is involve fans to this level and go with them through this entire process as we seek to name a team together.”. “We’re really thrilled about that. We are thrilled to be able to announce this next phase of the process, where we will be collaborating with everyone on the team’s name, because they are incredibly community-focused and oriented. “”.
The fan survey will be conducted using the methodology supplied by Ryan Smith’s co-founded experience management company, Qualtrics. The Utah Jazz NBA team’s “Mountain Basketball” uniforms were chosen using the same methodology.
The fourth phase of fan involvement started with a general call for suggestions. Voting to the top 20 and then the top six helped to refine those suggestions. The names that remain after voting on those top six are Mammoth and Hockey Club. Instead of Yeti, Wasatch is a new submission.
After failing to come to an agreement with the Yeti cooler company, which Maughan claimed possessed “a unique and strong trademark on anything published ‘Yeti’ or ‘Yetis’, either the singular or the plural … on clothing or any other licensed gear,” Utah made the decision to move on from Yeti. “.”.
The Wasatch Mountains, which stretch from the southern Utah-Idaho border to the center of Utah, are honored by the name.
“This mountain range, known as the Wasatch Front, is within 15 miles of 85% of Utahans,” Maughan stated. Thus, it is enabling us to pay tribute to this mythical snow creature, but in a way that is distinctly Utah-centric. “.”.
A representation of that fabled snow creature would be used as the logo to go with the Hockey Club and Wasatch names. The Mammoth name is associated with a logo that features a mammoth illustration.
Maughan remarked, “They are all designed in a very fierce and appropriate way for an NHL hockey team.”.
Fans will have the option to select from various combinations of the names and related logos during the survey, including how they would appear on ice and on jerseys.
Although Hockey Club and Mammoth, along with the other 18 names from the final 20, had previously been rejected by the USPTO, Maughan said that was not surprising and that plans are in place to address any problems with the names that are being considered.
“Any process naming includes this as a very standard component,” Maughan stated. We’re speeding up that entire process because, of course, we’re trying to do things in a much more streamlined manner than has essentially ever been done in professional sports. However, nothing is surprising. We have been aware of all of those for months, and we have plans in place to handle any communication from the trademark office pertaining to any of the names that were previously on the list or are still on the list as of right now. “”.