Utah NHL Fans Show Ownership of New Mammoth Mascot
It took 13 months, as many rounds of balloting as the papal conclave, and 850,000-plus votes by fans for the Utah Hockey Club to arrive at the new Utah Mammoth mascot.
Utah received the NHL franchise in 2024 when the Arizona Coyotes relocated to Salt Lake City. The first season of the Utah Hockey Club produced a 38–31–13 season, where the team fell short of the playoffs as the Delta Center sold out for all of the team's 41 home games.
'We love the passion of the people of Utah and the way they showed up for the team during its inaugural season and the energy they brought to voting on its permanent identity,' team owners Ryan and Ashley Smith said
'From day one, we committed that this team would be built with and for the people of Utah, and we are excited to celebrate today's launch with the entire state. The community chose the Utah Mammoth, and it stands as a symbol of who we are, where we came from, and the unstoppable force we're building together.'
It's unique for Utah that a professional team relocates and changes its name to fit the area. When the New Orleans Jazz moved to Utah in 1979, the franchise kept the name and the colors.
Utah is not known for having a jazz scene as New Orleans does, but mammoths are part of Utah's history. Archaeologists have found mammoth fossils in multiple parts of Utah, including a nearly complete skeleton in 1988.
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Other names considered along the way included Outlaws, Yeti, and Wasatch. A latecomer, Outlaws didn't make the final cut. Yeti didn't last, because the franchise couldn't work out trademark issues with the Yeti cooler company. Wasatch, a long mountain range in the state, didn't make it among the finalists.
'I told all my friends that were going, 'If you're not voting for Mammoth, you better not talk to me again,'' Utah hockey fan Keegan Wright
The fans interviewed by the newspaper indicated their excitement over the Mammoth nickname. In the final stage, the Utah Hockey Club limited fan voting to those who attended the games.
The Delta Center had iPad stations for fans to vote during a four-game stretch in the second half of the season. Utah hockey fan Brian Bolnick said he likes what the process did for the fan base amid a new team in town.
'The community here has obviously blossomed a ton since the team arrived and I think it is going to exponentially grow even more now that we actually have an identity,' Bolnick told The Salt Lake Tribune.
'I feel like all of us are kind of woven into that jersey. It is awesome to know that we all got to play a part in that,' he added. 'I really appreciate what Ryan and Ashley [Smith] and the SEG group are doing for Utah as a whole, but especially the hockey community.'
Ryan Smith, who also owns the Jazz, announced that the fans would decide on the new Utah NHL team's name following the 2024 move. For Utah hockey fan Kyle Finneman, it spoke volumes to see that process come to fruition.
'At the end of the day, when you're a billionaire, you get to do what you want. So, to take the saying of what people want always speaks volumes,' Finneman told The Salt Lake Tribune. 'It's nice to be heard. That's all anyone wants as a fan is to be heard. He could've done whatever. Sometimes the easy answer is the community answer.'
Ryan Smith expressed how he liked the process. He added that what nickname the fans wanted became crystal clear.
'I think my favorite part was that our fans made it really easy for us. Every single night we were doing the voting, Mammoth just started running away with it,' he
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman may have said it best in the end as the league grows in a new state.
'We trusted you to trust the people of this community,' Bettman told reporters on Wednesday. 'Everything you've tried to do and everything you've done has been a mammoth undertaking.'
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