Tusks Up: Utah Mammoth Unveiled

One NHL franchise is set for its third identity in as many years.

Following the 2023-24 season, the Arizona Coyotes moved to Utah. For this past season, the team was known as Utah Hockey Club. As announced by the franchise Wednesday morning, the team will be re-branded as the Utah Mammoth. 13 months and nearly 1,000,000 fan votes later, Utah has its permanent identity.

“When it came to naming the team, we did something unprecedented — going through four rounds of community voting, including getting feedback not only on potential names but also on potential logos,” Utah owners Ryan and Ashley Smith said in a statement. “The community chose the Utah Mammoth brand, and it stands as a symbol of who we are, where we came from, and the unstoppable force we’re building together.”

Following their purchase of the franchise, Smith Entertainment Group released a poll last May that featured 20 potential team names. By June 2024, the list was trimmed to six finalists — Mammoth, Outlaws, Venom, Blizzard, Utah HC, and Yeti. Earlier this season, “Yeti” became the clear front-runner and many people within the franchise expected it to be the eventual choice.

However, the franchise announced that “Yeti” would be removed from consideration due to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejecting a trademark application for “Utah Yetis”. The reason? “Likelihood of confusion” for consumers to other companies and brands that use the name. Connecting the dots, Yeti Coolers LLC is the likely brand that led to the ruling.

In January, as a result of the rejection, the franchise announced three finalists — Mammoth, Wasatch and Utah Hockey Club. Fans at the Delta Center were able to vote during games and the team quickly eliminated “Wasatch” from consideration after early voting returns. In its place, the team added “Utah Outlaws”.

Ultimately, Mammoth was “the clear favorite” according to the team. The new team name relates to the region, as mammoth fossils have been discovered throughout the state of Utah. Accompanying the announcement of the name change, Utah unveiled a set of new logos and the inaugural jerseys. The team will maintain its colors from Year 1 — Rock Black, Mountain Blue, Salt White — and don two unique jerseys next season. At home, the Mammoth will wear black sweaters featuring the primary logo known as the Mountain Mammoth. The road sweater will be white and feature the UTAH stairstep design that the team wore this past season.