Las Vegas is the home to the NHL’s newest franchise.
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As the article points out, a nighthawk is a bird native to the Nevada area, and is also the name of a fighter jet that has some roots in the area. “Knights somewhere in some fashion, some way”, Foley said.
“These names were all registered as several different domain names by Black Knight IP Holding Company, LLC, the company owned by Las Vegas hockey owner Bill Foley within the last few weeks”.
One thing the team doesn’t have yet, though, is an official name – but there’s a chance that it could be one of the Desert Hawks, the Red Hawks, or the Nighthawks.
Out of the three, Nighthawks is the best choice of the bunch.
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.
Foley says he’s relying heavily on input from adidas for both the team name and the logo design, adding that’d he like everything to be finalized ahead of the two National Hockey League exhibition games slated for T-Mobile Arena in early October. As far as predatory animal team names go, only Wildcats are more generic. They did say that Nevada, was not listed as the location part of the team name. With Foley’s connection to West Point and the United States Military Academy, which helps keep with his military theme.
Nighthawks could face trademark issues the team would have to work out. That nickname was once used by an AHL franchise that played in New Haven from 1972 to 1992, so it has some hockey history to it.
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.
Speaking of the Blackhawks, back in the early 1970s, they objected to Kansas City’s expansion franchise being called the Mohawks (they ended up being the Scouts), so I am not sure how Desert Hawks, Red Hawks or Nighthawks is going to fly with Chicago brass.
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“The London Knights own the name in Canada and to acquire the name from London is not economically feasible”, Foley told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday.
