Utah will use a bracket vote format to decide NHL team name

The new hockey team in Utah had its’ first chance to present itself to the people of Salt Lake City on Wednesday, and the excitement over there is certainly building up. But many are still wondering what the new team will be called.

Frank Seravalli gave us an update on Utah’s plans for the team name on Daily Faceoff Live.

Frank Seravalli: So the plan is, as Ryan Smith said last night, they’re going to have Utah on their jerseys this year. Does that mean that they’re not going to have a team name? They haven’t ruled that out, but what they’re going to do is take eight names and put them in a bracket style, and fans are going to vote through a couple rounds of voting to get to what will ultimately be the team name. So my guess is that the team is going to pick eight names that they’re comfortable with, any one of them being the name of the team, and we’ll see.

I think it would make sense for them to hit the ground running with a jersey and name and logo, but I got to tell you, watching merchandise fly off the shelves here in Utah yesterday, people just want to get their hands on anything. They were selling hoodies and t-shirts and golf shirts that just have an NHL shield and it says Utah. And the people were like “give me that, I want that”. Cannot get enough.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Maybe that’s the name, the Utah NHLers.

Frank Seravalli: Maybe it’s just the Utah hockey club. I think there’s a real chance that that happens.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I don’t hate that. I was someone who liked when they had to change their name from Redskins and they just did the Washington Football Team. I was like “that’s catchy”, it’s a European vibe when you see those names over there. I don’t mind that at all.

Frank Seravalli: It’s not how it works here, but I guess. You need something to grab onto. I don’t know if that makes any sense. You want something fierce.

You can watch the full episode here…