Next phase in voting for Utah’s NHL team name begins
Fans can take the survey at any of the next four home games
Utah Hockey Club fans who attend any of the next four home games will enjoy an exciting opportunity – being able to participate in the next phase of a survey to vote on the team’s permanent name.
Smith Entertainment Group has conducted a series of these surveys because Ryan and Ashley Smith are committed to Utah’s NHL team being a community asset, and directly involving fans in the naming process has been a big part of bringing that to life.
The multiphase survey process began last spring with SEG inviting hockey fans and the Utah community to nominate and vote on their favorite team names. Initially, Ryan Smith asked fans to submit name ideas on X. That produced 20 potential names for the first round of fan voting, and the second round was narrowed to six. Fans showcased their enthusiasm by casting more than 750,000 votes.
Because this next round features not only names but also logos and branding treatments, only fans attending the next four Utah Hockey Club home games at Delta Center, starting tonight, will be able to participate.
Utah Hockey Club’s sellout streak is holding strong, and 15,000 fans are anticipated to attend each of the following games:
- Wednesday, Jan. 29 vs. Pittsburgh
- Friday, Jan. 31 vs. Columbus
- Sunday, Feb. 2 vs. St. Louis
- Tuesday, Feb. 4 vs. Philadelphia
SEG staff will be positioned around the arena before and during the games to help interested fans take the survey and cast their vote for the name and logo they like best. As with past surveys, an SEG representative clarified that this new iteration will utilize Qualtrics to ensure fairness, accuracy, and unbiased results through best practice, survey-research methodology, which includes randomization, progressive discrete choice analysis, encrypted data collection and storage. Backend analysis will also include best practice statistical methods to ensure data integrity.
So, what names made the shortlist for this round?
- Utah Hockey Club
- Utah Mammoth
- Utah Wasatch
Utah Hockey Club and Utah Mammoth were names included in the latest round of top six names. Utah Wasatch is a new option created to honor the idea of a mythical snow creature with a Utah-centric approach inspired by the Wasatch Mountain range.
As fans will see, one name is not on the list: Yeti, which was also one of the top six names included in the most recent survey round. An SEG executive shared that it explored every avenue to make Yeti work but that YETI Coolers, LLC was ultimately unwilling to agree to a co-existence agreement. SEG has confirmed it is no longer pursuing Yeti as a potential name for the team.
The commitment SEG has to involve the fans and community in the naming process is unique in the history of professional sports. SEG said they are on track to announce the permanent team name before the start of the 2025-26 NHL season.
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