Ryan Smith says NHL team name will be chosen by fan bracket

SALT LAKE CITY — How will Utah's NHL team get its name?

"We're doing a bracket," team owner Ryan Smith said on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday. "And I think we're going to take us down from like eight all the way down, and the fans are gonna vote for this."

For those worried about the integrity of online voting, Smith pointed out that Qualtrics technology will be able to handle the bots that often come up in such online polls.

"I know how to handle the AI bots," he said.

Smith has hesitated to give a name timeline — even stating that the franchise could open up its inaugural season with a placeholder; however, on the McAfee show, Smith said it was one of the first things that needed to be squared away.

So what will be the eight or so team names to start the bracket?

Smith didn't say, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office might be of some help there. Last week, a company filed seven applications with the office for trademarks on different hockey team names.

The applications for Utah Hockey Club, Utah HC, Utah Blizzard, Utah Fury, and Utah Venom were filed on Tuesday — two days before it became official the team was moving. Since then, that group has also filed applications for Utah Yetis and Utah Outlaws.

That group? Uyte LLC.

Is the group affiliated with Smith Entertainment Group and the new franchise?

When the Washington NFL franchise rebranded, multiple fans filed applications trying to guess the new team name in order to collect some easy money. Is the same thing happening in Utah? Maybe, but it doesn't seem likely.

All six trademark applications were filed out of law firm Dorsey & Whitney's Salt Lake City office.

As Clark Rasmussen of DetroitHockey.net, who has followed multiple team branding efforts, puts it: "Dorsey & Whitney is probably not in the business of enabling trademark squatters and, even if they were, their work probably doesn't come cheap."

So if it's not someone associated with SEG, they are putting up some money to do some squatting — especially since they've gone to more effort to remain anonymous.

"They're shelling out even more money to Dutch information services company Wolters Kluwer via their Corporation Trust Company subsidiary," Rasmussen wrote. "CT serves as the registered agent for Uyte, providing another layer of anonymity."

That's a lot of work and money for a trademark squatter — not to mention, an application has already been filed for Utah Yetis by Wasatch Sports Factory in Draper. That trademark is set to go live Tuesday, so there would have to be some form of agreement there anyway.

With Smith doing a bracket, collecting all of the trademarks makes sense before putting out the list of potential names to prevent squatting to avoid further issues.

The gambling world is also getting in on the naming fun. Bookie.com has released odds of what the team name will be.

Here are the odds as of Monday morning:

• Utah Blizzard +275
• Utah Venom +300
• Utah Fury +500
• Utah Yetis +700
• Utah Black Diamonds +1500
• Utah Shredders +2000
• Utah Stingers +2500
• Utah HC +3000
• Utah Hockey Club +3000
• Utah Golden Eagles +3000
• The field +600

Related topics