One of the bigger stories from the NHL this offseason was the Arizona Coyotes moving to Utah. After failing to secure a new deal to stay in the desert, the Coyotes organization was moved to Salt Lake City. Owner Ryan Smith, who also owns the Utah Jazz and serves as a co-owner of Major League Soccer team Real Salt Lake, decided that the new name of the team would be determined by a fan vote and they seem to be narrowing the list down to the new name.
The process started with 20 different team names and after 520,000 votes, Smith Entertainment Group announced that the team is down to six team names. The vote will be open until June 20 for fans to put their input into the decision. It will be between the Utah Hockey Club, Venom, Outlaws, Yeti, Mammoth, and Blizzard.
SEG says the Utah NHL team name possibilities are down to six:
•Utah Blizzard•Utah Hockey Club (Utah HC)•Utah Mammoth•Utah Outlaws•Utah Venom •Utah Yeti
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) June 6, 2024
The team wasn’t able to bring the Coyotes’ name with it due to the rights being retained by former Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo. Part of the reason the name rights were retained was because Meruelo is hopeful to bring a team back to the Phoenix area at some point. But for now, the Utah NHL team will move forward and look to make their own mark on the league. Smith said that his goal was to have “Utah” on the jerseys for the start of the new season.
“We’ll start with ‘Utah’ on the jersey and we’ll figure out the logo and everything else and what it is that we are,” new owner Ryan Smith told The Associated Press on Thursday. “We’re going to be Utah either way. We have the first part of the name. We don’t have the last.”
The biggest issue that the team may have is breaking into the Utah market. Salt Lake City hasn’t had many professional teams over the years but there is an appeal for hockey in the city that is ready to explode. Smith has tried to endear the sport to fans by building rinks across the city and by starting a youth hockey program as well.
The organization will share the Delta Center, home to Smith’s NBA club, the aforementioned Utah Jazz. But the plan is to grow the number of seats in the building. Where things currently stand, the Delta Center has 12,000 obstructed view seats but the plan is to get that tally closer to 17,500.
“We want to actually use our arena and really spend time creating the best dual-sport arena that exists out there because we want to keep people as close as we possibly can or as vertical as we possibly can to watch both games,” Smith said. “It’s super fun and challenging, but we’re going to do it.”
It may take a minute for the Utah NHL team to fully break themselves into the city but they are ready for hockey in Salt Lake. It’s a good sports town that has been waiting patiently for another professional organization to join the fray, and now they can reap the benefits of the NHL.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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