The new Las Vegas NHL team will have an official name in the very near future. Until then, hockey fans and analysts have speculated over what the new organization will be called. There’s been several iterations of the Knights (Desert Knights, Silver Knights, Black Knights and others) as well as a few outliers such as Desert Hawks and Red Hawks. According to comments from Vegas owner Bill Foley seen over on NHL.com, the organization has a preferred name the NHL cleared and a secondary backup. The others were thrown out there to throw everyone off the scent.
Foley’s comments:
He said Friday he had a “preferred name” the NHL had cleared and a “secondary name based upon the other ones.”
He also admitted he had included fakes as a misdirection ploy.
“I have,” he said with a laugh over the phone. “I think it’s irritating a few people.”
When will the name finally be announced? Apparently around the same time the 2016-17 season starts. The patient approach appears to also be a marketing ploy from the organization.
In mid-October, around the start of the regular season, Foley said he hopes to announce the name, logo and color scheme, and sell merchandise such as hats and T-shirts. Jerseys probably won’t go on sale until December.
“In the meantime, it’s creating a lot of excitement in Las Vegas,” Foley said with another laugh. “I mean, all I do is get harassed every day by people who have a name idea or, ‘Use this name,’ or, ‘What’s the name going to be?’ It’s in the news all the time, so we’re front of mind.”
The pressure is on Foley and his group to come up with a brilliant name. All of the speculation and discussion might be assisting in keeping the team fresh in the minds of future fans, but it also has allowed that pressure to keep building to the point where one misstep could create tremendous judgement.
