NHL Anti-Thread: Bad Business Decision Aggregator

[FrutigerAero]

5 hours ago, BBTV said:

 

Is there any precedent for that in the modern era (team name change just because they didn't like it, not because of outside pressure)?

 

I'm surprised and also not surprised that they don't have this figured out already.  They couldn't really pay 10s to 00s of thousands to anyone to start working on an identity before they knew they had a team, because it could be a waste and possibly set people up for a big let down if it leaked.   

 

This is generally a once-in-a-franchise's-lifetime decision.  It's probably better that they're taking the WFT strategy than potentially flubbing it up (granted, WFT completely flubbed it, but hopefully these guys are a little more competent.)

Only one I can think of is Devil Rays to Rays.  And that was barely a change.

[Sykotyk]

Never heard the mountains near slc called the rockies. They're the Wasatch Mountains. They might be part of the overarching chain of mountains through the continent but they're never referred to as such. 

[Sykotyk]

2 minutes ago, FrutigerAero said:

Only one I can think of is Devil Rays to Rays.  And that was barely a change.

Oilers to Titans. They had already moved and just then wanted a new identity to start fresh. Coyotes and Cardinals changed from Phoenix to Arizona for marketing purposes. Though that wasn't nicknames. 

 

California Angels to Anaheim Angels to Los Angeles Angels didn't change nicknames but certainly changed their names just because they felt like it. 

 

 

[Germanshepherd]

If these are their best ideas, just be the Utah Hockey Club. 

[BBTV]

5 hours ago, Germanshepherd said:

If these are their best ideas, just be the Utah Hockey Club. 

 

There's no evidence that the NHL itself or Utah Hockey ownership filed for those.  They could potentially be squatters, or, even if the league did, it could be just to thwart squatters and keep these (horrible) options open.

[CJR]

The post that Wyshynski linked to explicitly said that it might not be Smith Entertainment Group who filed those trademark applications but (as was discussed over in the 2024-25 NHL thread) whoever did it spent a whole lot of money to remain anonymous, which squatters don't usually do.

[LMU]

9 hours ago, habsfan1 said:

Rocky Mountain Xtreme

 

 

Part of the mountain range is in Utah, so the name could work.

Wasatch Mountain Extreme.

 

It's gold, Jerry!

[Digby]

There's no way a competent branding process can't spin out an identity in a couple months, but the placeholder name schtick fulfills three needs of the design industry as it stands in 2024:

 

1. replacement of craft with as many stakeholder meetings as possible

2. cynical marketing scheme for the first year of Utah's existence -- drag out a whole extra year of drama and intrigue

3. supply chain issues are still real, but self-inflicted; the likes of Fanatics and Nike who've "optimized" so much that they backed themselves into a new version of total rigidity

[ManillaToad]

You know we live in dire times when the most popular suggestions for a team name are either WNBA-tier or just not having one at all.

[Sport]

10 hours ago, kimball said:

 

I won't lie ... I had the same thought.

 

Plus, Salt Lake City MORE so in the mountains than Denver is. Denver is basically Kansas.

 

I was surprised by this for both cities the first times I went there. Entire drive into Denver I kept waiting to scale a mountain and then I was in Denver while the mountains were still well in the distance. Then in Salt Lake City you fly over and then down a mountain to get to the airport. The mountain is like RIGHT THERE the entire time you're in the city. Not sure why Denver became known as THE mountain city when SLC is more mountainous. 

[tBBP]

1 hour ago, Sport said:

 

I was surprised by this for both cities the first times I went there. Entire drive into Denver I kept waiting to scale a mountain and then I was in Denver while the mountains were still well in the distance. Then in Salt Lake City you fly over and then down a mountain to get to the airport. The mountain is like RIGHT THERE the entire time you're in the city. Not sure why Denver became known as THE mountain city when SLC is more mountainous. 

 

This reminds me of my first trip into Denver way back when. (This also underlies the value of feet-on-the-ground experience about places rather than going off what somebody somewhere said about a place, especially when/if they ain't been there themselves.) All my young life I heard about Denver, the Rocky Mountains, and thought the whole state of Colorado was gonna be mountainous. NOPE. Roughly the entire eastern third of Colorado is flat open prairie...and that flat landscape includes Denver. The thing that threw me off was the fact that flat, open prairies exist IN THE MOUNTAINS THEMSELVES. I was completely not expecting that.

 

Then I got over into Salt Lake City and saw that though the core part of the city is built down in the flatter parts of the valley, much of the east and especially northeast part of town is built right up into (and in parts way up into) the side of that Wasatch front. (I'm sure that's where all the $$$$$$ lives, as well.)

 

That said, that scenery out there in Utah...man oh man. If you ain't been, you gotta go see if for yourself. (Just don't go in wintertime...)

[Alex Houston]

21 hours ago, FiddySicks said:

The Sharks have one of the most wealthy owners in the league, but he’s pretty much absentee due to being based in Europe. It’s not so much a money issue as it is them expecting a Bay Area city to foot the bill on an arena for them. They’re basically playing the “That’s a nice hockey team you’ve got there. Would be are shame if they had to move” angle. Too bad that city has already publicly said they would probably be better off financially without the Sharks. 
 

It’s one of those things that’ll probably be solved relatively quickly as long as Sharks ownership isn’t dumb enough to try and pull a bunch of crap, and realize that if they want a new building, they’ll have to pay for it. If they don’t, I could legitimately see the city of San Jose deciding to not work with them at all. A lot of cities in the country, especially Bay Area cities, aren’t going to get exploited by these teams any longer. No matter of it costs them the team or not. 

 

Okay, that makes sense if you're discussing the stadium situation. And yea, I've never been thrilled with Plattner behind the gun but SFGiants was making it sound like there was way more dysfunction across the board and I was like, "The hell are you talking about?"

[mcj882000]

Uncensored version here.

[Sodboy13]

Alex Meruelo and Gary Bettman paired up for an Arizona Q & A this afternoon, and judging from the clips, Meruelo was a lot better off when he was invisible and silent. But this must be part of his earning the purchase price.

 

 

[GDAWG]

56 minutes ago, Sodboy13 said:

Alex Meruelo and Gary Bettman paired up for an Arizona Q & A this afternoon, and judging from the clips, Meruelo was a lot better off when he was invisible and silent. But this must be part of his earning the purchase price.

 

 

 

Bettman is probably thinking "why didn't you sell the team to Mat Ishbia?"  

[The_Admiral]

This dumb bastard actually dropped an "I'm so glad you reached out, I'm actually at capacity" about refunding tickets for a team that doesn't exist anymore. We gotta get him back in the game as soon as possible.

[officeglenn]

[Magnus]

Been a while since I actually commented on these forums, so I just wanted to come in and say "Suck it, Gary. You lost your precious."
 

...although I know Meruelo retains the right to reactivate the Coyotes, this has been a long time coming. Cities shouldn't have to bankrupt themselves to keep a sports team afloat.

As I say this, my own city of Sudbury, Ontario is putting forth plans to probably demolish and rebuild our own arena using $200 million in loans. FML

[The_Admiral]

There's going to be a culture shock. In Utah, a "dirty soda" is when they put flavored syrup in a Coke. In hockey, a "dirty soda" is when you drag your teammate behind a bar, pin him to the ground, pull down his pants, and shoot a seltzer gun up his ass. 

[Gary]

On 4/17/2024 at 1:49 PM, FiddySicks said:

Phoenix is (I think) the 4th biggest media market in the country. Even if it’s a bit of a small flop, it’s still probably more successful than an enthusiastic Salt Lake City.
 

Problem is, it was never just a little flop with the Coyotes, but an ENORMOUS wet turd slapping repeatedly against the pavement.

 

I don’t think Phoenix ever has the chance to be a huge hockey hotbed, because it contradicts the whole vibe of the area. It’s already a literal hotbed. A sheet of ice and a wool hockey jersey you’ll have to wear into June just doesn’t make any sense. But even still, you’ve got like 8 million people to work with. Like, half of which are people who fled from actual hockey country. It’s like putting an Einstein Bros in Sky Harbor airport. Nobody really wants Einstein Bros, but it’s just there on the way to the gate and they charge for drinks on the plane now. Might as well Now repeat that a few million times. The Coyotes were exactly that, but their Einstein Bros was in the Mesa-Gateway airport. Nobody’s going out of their way for that garbage. 

Not going to defend the Coyotes, but the Phoenix area a little bit. YES I agree that the Coyotes are the biggest wet turd in the history of the Phoenix Valley Metro area. Always a stigma that left a black eye here without realizing that Phoenix is a rising area for hockey. The ASU Hockey program people recognize before the Coyotes and it does help that they have been winning and that they actually advertise the :censored: out of this program. We have Auston Matthews who blazed up the NHL is from Scottsdale and the high school is being recognized by the AIA which is the governing board for high school athletics. I don’t think it was the fans somewhat. But the Coyotes were always bad, never advertised and the ownerships of the past were incompetent. 
 

so yes I will say the experiment is over and I sincerely hope the next iteration of the Coyotes are supported. But looking at who still has the history and rights to the name we know that won’t happen