Seattle NHL Brand Discussion

[Atomic]

22 hours ago, aztex82 said:

 

Yeah. Any chance the Mods can steer this discussion back to hockey branding?

Seems like this is back on track, but for all intents and purposes, I've removed the political discussion from the past few pages of the thread. 

 

With that said, please remember there is no political discussion on the boards.

 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program. 

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

2 hours ago, Atomic said:

Seems like this is back on track

 

If I may say so, I'd prefer that the mods let a conversation breathe, and step in only if the original topic is lost. This thread was an example of one that needed no moderation or deletion, as it came back to the original topic all by itself, thereby showing that a temporary veering into other matters does not kill the main topic. 

[Atomic]

4 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

If I may say so, I'd prefer that the mods let a conversation breathe, and step in only if the original topic is lost. This thread was an example of one that needed no moderation or deletion, as it came back to the original topic all by itself, thereby showing that a temporary veering into other matters does not kill the main topic. 

No politics means No Politics. 

 

If you can tell me how politics in the District of Colombia adds/enhances or is relevant to a discussion about Seattle's potential NHL team, I'd like to hear it. Otherwise, that portion of the discussion was not necessary. In fact, I thought I was pretty chill about the whole situation with the friendly reminder and subsequent post deletions. 

[lilgump]

As someone who lives in Seattle, I would like to add that I don't think there's too many people who would want a team to be named anything but "Seattle".  The PNW already sometimes is a void in the conscious of the nation being so far removed from most other teams.  But I would guess everyone knows the city of Seattle.  Amazon, Starbucks, Microsoft, Sleepless in Seattle.  Nationally, Internationally.  Seattle is the brand.  

 

Emerald City, Cascadia, Washington, or anything else just doesn't pack the same punch.

[Jimmy!]

To paraphrase SNL's Mike Myers, "If it's not Seattle, it's crap!"

[OnWis97]

49 minutes ago, lilgump said:

As someone who lives in Seattle, I would like to add that I don't think there's too many people who would want a team to be named anything but "Seattle".  The PNW already sometimes is a void in the conscious of the nation being so far removed from most other teams.  But I would guess everyone knows the city of Seattle.  Amazon, Starbucks, Microsoft, Sleepless in Seattle.  Nationally, Internationally.  Seattle is the brand.  

 

Emerald City, Cascadia, Washington, or anything else just doesn't pack the same punch.

I tend to agree (though I live in Minnesota, so what do I know?).

 

Seattle is easily the most identified geographic "place" in the PNW to the rest of us.  People associate Seattle with a lot of things you mentioned.  Washington State?  I love it, but it's not that distinguished from the other mountainous states.  Seattle would have the most nationwide cache.  I know teams are more frequently being named after states (particularly in states with one dominant metro), perhaps in part because a lot of the "out-state" people, or even the suburbanites are put off by the big-city name.  But in this case, I tend to think that can't overcome the existance of the Washington DC teams.  I don't see the NHL having the Washington Capitals and the Washington Evergreens.  And the WSU may have something to say about Washington State Evergreens.  That leaves either Seattle or something like "Evergreen State Salmon" or "Pacific Northwest Evergreens."  I won't 100% put it past any team, but I tend to think that "Seattle" has good enough brand recognition to play it safe.

 

I don't entirely agree that there's no way they won't go with something like "Seattle HC."  Soccer's becoming more popular and my limited experience in Seattle is that it's well-liked there.  I think a "big 4" team may try that some time.  I hope not.  Leave soccer stuff (upward-ticking clock, non-stop clock, sponsor-dominated jerseys, lame names) to soccer.  In any case, as great as the organic evolution of MLB and NHL names in the first quarter of the 20th Century was, I just don't think we're built for that any more.  Everyone would be trying to name the team from day one.  If they go with "Seattle HC" I think they'd be doing so with the intent of keeping it. 

EDIT: I recently made a VERY difficult decision to turn down a job offer in Seattle.  And now we're getting eight inches of snow on April 3.    Well, played, moron.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

1 hour ago, lilgump said:

As someone who lives in Seattle, I would like to add that I don't think there's too many people who would want a team to be named anything but "Seattle".  The PNW already sometimes is a void in the conscious of the nation being so far removed from most other teams.  But I would guess everyone knows the city of Seattle.  Amazon, Starbucks, Microsoft, Sleepless in Seattle.  Nationally, Internationally.  Seattle is the brand.  

 

Emerald City, Cascadia, Washington, or anything else just doesn't pack the same punch.

 

My suggestion of "Evergreen" as the locality name encompassing the whole state was based on accepting for the sake of argument the assertion, seen a few pages back, that the league was not going to use the name "Seattle".  But I certainly think the name should be "Seattle".  

[TaylorMade]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

My suggestion of "Evergreen" as the locality name encompassing the whole state was based on accepting for the sake of argument the assertion, seen a few pages back, that the league was not going to use the name "Seattle".  But I certainly think the name should be "Seattle".  

 

Did you happen to check the date on that post?

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

6 hours ago, TaylorMade said:

8 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

My suggestion of "Evergreen" as the locality name encompassing the whole state was based on accepting for the sake of argument the assertion, seen a few pages back, that the league was not going to use the name "Seattle".  But I certainly think the name should be "Seattle".  

 

Did you happen to check the date on that post?

 

Was that an April Fool's gag? Dang. That's the second one I fell for this year. 

 

A story in the Esperanto magazine Libera Folio [both words accented on the next-to-last syllable, as are all words of two or more syllables in the language] stated that Cristiano Ronaldo was going to play for the Esperanto football club in a match to be played during this year's Kongreso in Lisbon, because he had learnt Esperanto as a child. And I believed it like a stultulo, until I got to the note at the bottom announcing that the article was a joke.

 

So, whoever made the claim about the prospective NHL team in Seattle: you got me again!

[TenaciousG]

6 hours ago, OnWis97 said:

EDIT: I recently made a VERY difficult decision to turn down a job offer in Seattle.  And now we're getting eight inches of snow on April 3.    Well, played, moron.

 

Buddy I don’t think you’re aware that the sun doesn’t shine here from October through May, and a 1 bedroom house costs $750k.

 

I’m cool with “Evergreen State” as an alternative to Seattle, although there is an Evergreen State College. They are the Geoducks, which unfortunately would also be an awesome nickname for the NHL team (if it weren’t already taken).

 

 

[VancouverFan69]

On 1/4/2018 at 10:58 AM, VancouverFan69 said:

Only in the NHL, right?? There is ongoing speculation that the Oak View Group will not include Seattle in the expansion club's identity, no matter what the team name is. Because of the popularity of hockey in Washington State and the success of the major junior teams in the area, the regional identity will be Washington State. This angers me to no end as I wanted to see the Vancouver-Seattle rivalry be extended from the soccer scene to hockey. 

 

Quebec Nordiques 2.0 >>>>>>> Washington State Whatevers.

 

On 1/4/2018 at 11:59 AM, VancouverFan69 said:

 

 

 

APRIL FOOL'S DAY!!!! 

 

3 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

Was that an April Fool's gag? Dang. That's the second one I fell for this year. 

 

A story in the Esperanto magazine Libera Folio [both words accented on the next-to-last syllable, as are all words of two or more syllables in the language] stated that Cristiano Ronaldo was going to play for the Esperanto football club in a match to be played during this year's Kongreso in Lisbon, because he had learnt Esperanto as a child. And i believed it like a stultulo, until I got to the note at the bottom announcing that the article was a joke.

 

So, whoever made the claim about the prospective NHL team in Seattle: you got me again!

 

I fully take responsibility for that April Fool's gag. 

[sparkychewbarky]

Looks like Seattle NHL is gonna happen...official announcement on the new franchise expected in December.

Maybe it's time to crank this one back up.

Names?...colours?...

[BJ Sands]

When I created a Seattle team in NHL 19 I called them the Emeralds and used a double green scheme. Doesn’t look too bad. 

[Bayne]

Hope it's Seattle Metropolitans 

[Brian in Boston]

Last Monday afternoon, in an appearance on 710 ESPN Seattle's "Danny, Dave and Moore" show, NHL Seattle CEO Todd Leiweke told the hosts that if - as expected - the NHL's Board of Governors votes to award an expansion franchise to Seattle this coming December, than the team's name and logo would probably be unveiled in the spring of 2019.

Leiweke added that when it comes to the team's identity, "... we're working on it right now. I'm working on it this week."

 

Leiweke went on to say that one of the challenges when it comes to branding the team will be settling upon a color scheme. He noted that with the neighboring Vancouver Canucks already utilizing "the traditional Seattle team colors" of blue and green, NHL Seattle "might be forced to think outta the box here a little bit" when it comes to choosing a palette.

Todd Leiweke on 710 ESPN Seattle's "Danny, Dave and Moore" show    

Elsewhere on the branding front, Seattle Sockeyes was the winner of the "Name the Team Tournament" that the Seattle Times conducted. Sockeyes bested Totems in the final round of balloting by a vote of 11,790 to 9,932.

 

Of the 146,444 total votes that were cast in the multi-round balloting, the Sockeyes sobriquet garnered 37,543. The other top vote-getters in the exercise were Totems (30,140), Metropolitans (24,859), and Steelheads (18,700).

Sockeyes or Totems? Announcing the winner of our (unofficial) tournament to name Seattle's NHL team 

[TenaciousG]

How were Thunderbirds not even included in the polling for the team name? I understand it is already “taken”, but so were Seattle Sounders by the USL team and we know how that turned out.

 

I would also solve the color issue by using light blue and dark green.

[Brian in Boston]

21 hours ago, TenaciousG said:

How were Thunderbirds not even included in the polling for the team name? I understand it is already “taken”, but so were Seattle Sounders by the USL team and we know how that turned out.

 

To this point in time, comparing the Seattle Thunderbirds/NHL Seattle situation to that of the USL Seattle Sounders/MLS Seattle Sounders FC relationship is an "apples-and-oranges" comparison. 

Adrian Hanauer, owner of the USL Sounders, had been pursuing a Major League Soccer franchise for the City of Seattle for the better part of 3 to 4 years when MLS Commissioner Don Garber introduced him to Hollywood producer Joe Roth in the summer of 2007. Hanauer has been a part of the investor/operator group of Seattle's MLS franchise - along with partners Joe Roth, Paul Allen, and Drew Carey - since the team's operating rights were granted by the league in November of 2007. As a result, it was a simple and straightforward affair for an MLS franchise partially operated by Adrian Hanauer to secure the traditional Seattle Sounders name from a USL franchise owned and operated by Adrian Hanauer.

By contrast, brothers Dan and Lindsey Leckelt - owners of the Western Hockey League's Kent, Washington-based Seattle Thunderbirds - have nothing to do with the NHL Seattle bid. As of this time, the Leckelts have given no indication that they have any plans to suspend operations of their major junior ice hockey team, relocate said team, rebrand said team, or grant the ownership of the proposed NHL Seattle franchise permission to use the Seattle Thunderbirds brand.  

[kimball]

As much as I'd love the Seattle Kraken, I actually really like the Seattle Sockeyes. It'd go with the red it seems the expansion group has already adopted as the primary color and it's not that bad of a name that's fairly unique to the area.

[LMU]

If they go Sockeyes, the color choice has to be red, black, and the Mariners' "northwest green."

 

From there, the logo should be a simplified version of something like this:

 

[Thaumatrope]

56 minutes ago, LMU said:

If they go Sockeyes, the color choice has to be red, black, and the Mariners' "northwest green."

 

From there, the logo should be a simplified version of something like this:

 

 

Agreed. If the team is going to incorporate red, I'd love to see it as part of a scheme like the one above. 

 

Alternatively, a double green color scheme could be a very unique and regionally appropriate color scheme (especially if the team opts for a name like Evergreens or Emeralds).