Las Vegas NHL Team Reportedly Narrowing Down Nickname to Five Choices

The Las Vegas National Hockey League expansion team may be narrowing down their nickname to the final three to five choices.

According to Sportslogos.net and Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review Journal, team owner Bill Foley may be deciding on three names with hawks in each of them. Nighthawks, Desert Hawks, and Red Hawks as well as two other names that have not been released yet are being considered by Foley. 

Carp believes that Nighthawks is probably the leading choice for the nickname. 

The NHL does not permit gambling terms in team names, so like Carp noted in his reporting, Foley probably does not have an "ace up his sleeve."

Sportslogos.net noted that the three names which included Hawks, are all listed as potential domain names, that have been registered by Black Knights IP Holding Company, LLC. The company is owned by Foley as the corporate name for the organization. 

The site also stated that it was not known how the spacing of the potential nicknames would be, or if the team would be known as Las Vegas or just Vegas, with the nickname following the location name. They did say that Nevada, was not listed as the location part of the team name.

Earlier this week, Sportsbook Radio, quoted Foley as stating that they were down to about four or five names for the team.

In the interview he said, “It is not Black Knights. That has been vetted, and there were too many objections from my alma-mater [West Point] and then [we got] some push back from some other people, so we put that one aside. But the name is going to have Knights somewhere in some fashion, some way. Or, there is going to be one particular animal, a bird, that we might have available to us that we might use.”

 

Sportslogo.net made a point that the interview was a radio interview, so when he said knight, he could have meant night, and a hawk is a bird. Which is why they and Carp believe that Nighthawks fits the description in the quote. 

Las Vegas Nighthawks could have a double meaning to it too. A nighthawk is a bird native to the Las Vegas and the white stripe on its wing is similar to how a lot of hockey jerseys look. During the 1980’s the Lockheed Nighthawk fighter jet made its maiden voyage in Nevada. With Foley’s connection to West Point and the United States Military Academy, that helps keep with his military theme. 

 

Nighthawks could face trademark issues the team would have to work out. A brewing company uses the name, as well as a bunch of National Collegiate Athletic Association teams. The New Haven Nighthawks used to be a team in the American Hockey League also.  

Redhawks is another name that has been a common nickname throughout the minor leagues and collegiate sports, which could cause some problems unless something could be worked out. The Oklahoma City Redhawks, may have changed their name, but they still own a trademark for it. 

The organization would not have any problems with Desert Hawks. The name is not trademarked by any organization or teams throughout the United States and Canada, which would make it easy for them if that is the choice that Foley is thinking of. 

Sportslogo.net believes that Las Vegas Nighthawks is probably the name that Foley will decide on for his new team when they begin play during the 2017-2018 NHL season.

The site also reported that at about 10:30 Eastern Time, KLAS, the CBS affiliate in Las Vegas was reporting that Foley confirmed the three names being reported, along with two other names that have not been mentioned yet.