The Utah Name saga is a sham.

Written By Randon Kerr

When its was announced in April that the Utah NHL team would be a new franchise and not retain the Coyotes name and branding, speculation immediately began for the team name. Fans began pitching ideas, using AI to create mock jerseys, and discussing how the team name could intertwine into the culture and tradition of the State of Utah. Owner Ryan Smith did confirm that the name would be “Utah” and not Salt Lake City, and the colors were announced as Rock Black, Salt White, and Mountain Blue.

Surely one of the first things that was discussed by a billionaire business owner in Ryan Smith was how to maximize merchandise sales and enhance team branding. Ryan Smith made his billions building, and eventually selling, the data collection and analysis company Qualtrics. It wasn’t a shock, then, that Smith decided the only way to determine the team name was via an online vote. It should be noted that to vote in the fan poll, individuals needed to give some juicy juicy demographic and contact information away before being allowed to cast their votes.

The names in that first survey were: Frost, Ice, Powder, Mountaineers, Freeze, Mammoth, Black Diamonds, Blast, Caribou, Blizzard, Swarm, Hive, Outlaws, Yeti, Squall, Fury, Glaciers, Canyons, Venom and Hockey Club. Immediately fans fell in love with their favorites and lobbed attacks at the ones that didn’t quite measure up (looking squarely at you Caribou). Obviously the winter based names were popular and the Two Line Pass guys found some they enjoyed the most and discuss them in our 3rd ever episode: What’s in a Name?

In early June the team announced that it had narrowed down the initial voting to six finalists: Utah Blizzard, Utah Hockey Club (Utah HC), Utah Mammoth, Utah Outlaws, Utah Venom and Utah Yeti. Heading into the summer the name hype was at all time high levels when General Manager Bill Armstrong let slip that first even franchise draft pick Tij Iginla would be a Utah…. "When we hit pick five, that's when we knew he'd be a Utah Yeti — I think," Armstrong said. With that quote, it was all but assumed Yeti would be the team name. The colors worked with the name, it was a winter creature that worked with Utah, it seemed like it was an open and shut case. Then, disaster struck. The Yeti Cooler company decided not to share the copyright to Yeti, and the name was completely scrapped. Speaking for myself, I couldn’t help but feel it was a man made disaster. Surely an astute business man like Ryan Smith would have, at the very least, hired the right people to make sure paperwork was filed correctly, phone calls were made, and any legitimate name contender the fans could vote on was actually possible to implement. Surely before putting up Yeti to vote, the potential over lap with Yeti Coolers was considered, or should have been. There are numerous instances in sports where teams share names and there is no issue. How could it be that the Yeti name wasn’t cleared? The only rational answer, it was never in the running to begin with. The entire voting process was a sham and its only goal was to drive engagement and collect data points on the hockey going demographic of Utah.

The frustration and speculation that the voting wasn’t really a fair deal was compounded when the team decided that another round of in person voting was necessary. This time fans in game would get a first look at the Logo’s associated with the final three team names.

This would be it, with Yeti officially out, this would be the final decision, which of the three would it be? Fans couldn’t wait to see the logo designs and pick the final winner. However, the hype quickly turned to anger when it was leaked that the third option-presumably the one that replaced Utah Yeti-would be Utah Wasatch, a name that had never appeared in any of the voting rounds to that point. It was a catastrophic mistake, especially since the logo for the Wasatch and the Utah hockey club WAS THE EXACT SAME. The only thing you could think was that the ownership group knew that Wasatch wasn’t a legitimate contender, and was only added because the design assets from Yeti were available. At this point it was all but certain Mammoth would take the crown, Utah Hockey Club didn’t stand a chance.

In true business owner style, the day after the first round of in person voting, the team announced that it had listened to the feedback received and swapped out Wasatch for Outlaws. The upshot being, Mammoth no longer seemed like the run away favorite. Despite a really awful and seemingly AI generated logo, the Outlaws name was wildly popular with a certain segment of fans. Mammoth still dominated the X userbase, but Outlaws was keeping pace with Mammoth in the voting.

Of course, I see it all as a sham anyway. Another way to gather our data with the decision already being made. Common consensus is that Utah Hockey Club cannot win because there is too much money to be made in the rebranding effort. Poor schleps like me will gladly shell out hundreds of dollars for new jerseys/hoodies/shirts and any other assortment of merchandise. But what about the cost of manufacturing? The cost of designing? Surely those were factored in, but in the end it may be inevitable. Two more reports have stoked the fires of speculation the most important being a tweet from Dennis Dodd.

Now there is a lot to unpack there and you can nitpick the wording all you want. First “nickname” did he mean the new team name? Like Utah Hockey Club or Utah Mammoths? A true nickname moniker like Clubbers or Mam Mams? He declined to elaborate or name sources, but the speculation ran rampant. It didn’t help that the timing of legal issues fueled the fire. Shortly after Dennis’ report it was reported that the Trademark extension was filed for the Utah Mammoth, but no others. It was later clarified that the extensions for the Hockey Club and Outlaws were not due until April, so the trademark issues in and of themselves aren’t proof of any decision.

More importantly the word choice was “settled”. Reading too much into it, that comment makes it seem like the front office flipped a coin and was equally happy with any result. Taken to its logical conclusion, that means the fan vote meant nothing. There should be nothing to settle on. If the fans vote was the determining factor, they should have known for months the winner and been working this whole time on merch and branding.

The last key was “No Timeline For Release”. There are two things that are going to impact the timing. First, if the merchandise machine gets leaked. If that happens we will know and I suspect the team will have no choice but to confirm. Second, is the NHL Entry Level Draft. This seems like the most likely way to keep the hype train going. What better stage than the draft to unveil the next chapter of the franchise? The whole hockey world will be watching, and as any good owner knows, the more eyeballs watching, the better.

Of course, the saga couldn’t just end there. It was recently announced that the additional trademarks that weren’t initially extended….have been extended. Belle Frasier has great piece on the Salt Lake Tribune about the saga.

Its certainly all part of the plan. The trademark names were all extended in their own timeline for no other reason than to have the trademarks available. The saga needs to end. Pick a damn name and tell us what the name will be! I guarantee you, people will still buy Utah Hockey Club merchandise even with new merchandise upcoming. Just end the charade and pick a name!

Randon Kerr
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