Professional sports franchises are built on a foundation of fan support for "their" team and the Utah Hockey Club finds itself in a precarious position as the team's inaugural season enters its final phase. While the connections to the old Arizona Coyotes are quickly fading, Utah HC really is a holding place for an NHL franchise.
Fans and pundits alike probably will agree that moving the Coyotes out of a seemingly no-win situation in the Valley of Sun to the Wasatch Range of Utah was a move in the right direction but what does the immediate future hold for the NHL franchise in Salt Lake City?
The Fans are speaking out about the future of Utah HC
The Utah Hockey Club franchise recently allowed their own faithful an opportunity to have a say in the future of the club with a naming contest to determine a permanent name for this NHL Central Division occupant.
While one of the names, the Utah "Yeti" was eliminated due to potential copyright law infringements, the Utah HC fans spoke up and developed a final list of monikers for the newest NHL franchise. The finalist names all reflect some aspect of Utah history or culture while at the same time attempt to create a unique team identity in the Wasatch Range.
And the Team Name Finalists Are:
The Utah Outlaws seem to be the front running franchise name for the Utah HC moving forward into the next season. With an obvious nod to Utah's Western history to legendary characters tied to Utah such as Butch Cassidy, the name Outlaws gives the Utah HC an "Old West" feeling as bandits and gunslingers alike come to mind and black uniform sweaters no doubt add to this imagery.
Fans can only imagine a team logo with crossed Colt Peacemaker revolvers and the theme song from the western classic "The Good, Bad & the Ugly" being played at every home game.
A second new moniker also follows along the historical vein as the Outlaws but the name the Utah Mammoths harkens back to a much, much older historical time period. Envision the days when giant Columbia mammoths roamed what is now Utah well over ten thousand years ago and you can imagine the imagery that a Utah Mammoths hockey team would bring to the National Hockey League.
Again, fans would have to envision a giant mammoth on the front of a uniform sweater but there's already a National Lacrosse League team called the Colorado Mammoth in the rival city of Denver and a copycat syndrome seems to be in play with this potential team name.
The final and seemingly most bland team name option is simply keeping the name Utah Hockey Club as the permanent franchise name. There's no fanciness here; the current Utah HC stays the same in uniform colors and logo by keeping the temporary moniker and making it permanent.
This may seem too simple to fans but having the state of Utah as part of the logo background with the current team colors is a unique feature in the NHL. Sometimes, the most simple is the most obvious and the most feasible in life and in sports.
Why does a permanent team name really matter?
Professional sports is a multi-billion dollar big business and every professional team has their own name, logo and team colors and let's face it, imagery is everything in modern sports. When the Arizona Coyotes failed to secure a permanent place to play in the Phoenix area, the franchise's fate was sealed and a move became all too inevitable.
Relocating to Salt Lake City was an opportune decision given this region's growth and already having the NBA's Utah Jazz as a professional sports anchor certainly didn't hurt the decision-making process.
However, moving a sports team is one thing; creating a team identity in a new city with a new fan base requires a coordinated marketing effort to sell the franchise to a new legion of fans. Regardless of permanent name decisions, the Utah Hockey Club needs to move quickly to seal their long-term success within the National Hockey League.