SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Hockey Membership has chosen three finalists for the everlasting workforce identify it should undertake starting with the 2025-26 NHL season.
The franchise will use a remaining spherical of fan voting to determine among the many Utah Mammoth, Utah Hockey Membership and Utah Wasatch. Workforce officers backed away from together with Yeti as a finalist after being unable to work out a co-existence settlement with Yeti Coolers to make use of the identify in branding and merchandising.
“They’ve a singular trademark that enables them to forestall using the phrase Yeti or Yetis,” Smith Leisure Group govt Mike Maughan mentioned. “They made a willpower for the sake of their model that they didn’t wish to enter right into a coexistence.”
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Workplace earlier this month refused a request by the membership, citing a “chance of confusion” with different notable manufacturers utilizing the identify, corresponding to Yeti Coolers. An e mail despatched Wednesday by The Related Press to Yeti Coolers LLC searching for remark was not instantly returned.
Followers in attendance on the subsequent 4 residence video games, beginning Wednesday evening in opposition to Pittsburgh, will vote at designated iPad stations on the Delta Middle to assist determine the workforce’s identify and brand. It is going to unveil a primary take a look at designs for the brand, jerseys and branding related to every selection.
Solely followers in attendance will likely be allowed to vote on the Penguins sport, in opposition to Columbus on Friday, St. Louis on Sunday and Philadelphia on Tuesday. The everlasting workforce identify and brand will likely be unveiled forward of Utah’s 2025-26 regular-season opener.
Wasatch crammed the finalist spot initially meant for Yeti. Wasatch is a reference to the Wasatch Mountains, which run north to south alongside the east facet of the Salt Lake Valley.
“We wished to honor this concept individuals had for a legendary snow creature just like the Yeti and convey a really Utah-centric method to it,” Maughan mentioned. “As a result of now we have the Wasatch Mountains, as a result of now we have the Wasatch Entrance, now we have so many various iterations or methods we are able to do it. We wished to honor the sentiment of a kind of high names of the final iteration (of fan voting) whereas additionally together with a Utah-centric model of it.”
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