Ryan Smith, owner of Utah’s new NHL teamannounced on Wednesday the 20 options The team will allow fans to vote for the franchise’s new nickname.
Voting in the first round (of “multiple rounds”) will end on May 22 and fans can select up to four names, which were chosen from a social media poll. posted by Smith on X in April.
Here are the 20 options for the team, which will begin play at Delta Center next season:
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Utah explosion
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Utah Dust
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Utah Mammoth
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Utah Mountaineers
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Utah Black Diamonds
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Utah Swarm
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utah yeti
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Utah Caribou
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Utah Frost
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Utah poison
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Utah Storm
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Utah Outlaws
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Utah Beehive
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Utah Freeze
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Utah Fury
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Utah HC
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Utah Glaciers
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Utah Canyons
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Utah Blizzard
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Utah Ice
Fan-favorite choices who will advance to the next round of voting will be announced “later this summer,” according to the team.
“The Utah NHL team is a community asset and we want to ensure the community has a say in the name,” Smith said in a news release. “Utah has been there for this team since the moment the NHL awarded us the franchise less than three weeks ago, and it’s only fitting that our fans will have the rare opportunity to help name the team they will cheer for.”
Fans can only vote once and measures are in place to ensure there is no shenanigans when it comes to the voting process.
Qualtrics will employ best-practice survey research methodology to ensure fairness, accuracy, and unbiased results, including randomization, geographic location identification, progressive analysis of discrete elections, prevention of ballot box stuffing, and collection and storage of encrypted data. Backend analysis will also include deduplication and best practice statistical methods to ensure data integrity.
Once an official nickname has been selected for the team, the team will “work diligently over the next year” on designing a logo, mascot and colors. When NHL Utah takes the ice for the 2024-25 season, they will wear jerseys with their chosen colors but no nickname. Only UTAH will appear on the jerseys of its first season.
The nickname and other branding will be revealed before the 2025-26 NHL season.
In April, the NHL Board of Governors approved the sale of the Arizona Coyotes for $1.2 billion to Smith, a billionaire who co-founded Qualtrics and also owns the Utah Jazz and Real Salt Lake. The Coyotes had originally moved from Winnipeg in 1996.
As part of the sale agreement, if former Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo can secure a new stadium in Arizona within five years, he will be able to repay the $1.2 billion and will be awarded an expansion franchise.
