The Utah Jazz and the new Salt Lake City hockey club are about to make the downtown area a hot ticket for sports fans. The city, which once really only boasted the Jazz, has become a hotbed for sports and sports-related excitement.
The city and main ownership group now have teams with the NBA, G-League, NHL, MLS, NWSL, MLW, and PLL, covering ground in the world of basketball, hockey, soccer, rugby, and lacrosse. The current team, the not-yet-named Utah NHL Team, is the latest addition and biggest aside from the Jazz.
Right now the only two pro sports leagues that the city doesn't have is a MLB and NFL team. So there's a lot going on in Salt Lake.
The arrival of the NHL has lit the fandom up and many are excited about getting to go to a new sporting event this upcoming fall and winter. In fact, not only is the arrival of the hockey team getting fans excited, but it's also making some take stock in the historical significance of the team's arrival and how it's drawing comparison to the Jazz.
The Utah NHL Team, once known as the Phoenix Coyotes, came over to Salt Lake City via an expansion; with the prior owner and team getting the rights to the Phoenix Coyotes brand, identity and history and new owner Ryan Smith getting the players, coaches, personnel and the rest of the items.
It's not too dissimilar to the arrival of the Utah Jazz in 1979. The team was originally in New Orleans, but when the then-New Orleans Jazz moved to Salt Lake City, the club took the franchise's history. The move allowed Salt Lake to retain the logo, colors, team name, and past history.
So both teams did relocate to Salt Lake City but that's where the similarities end. The Jazz got to keep its identity and history, something this NHL team wasn't able to do, making it a brand new team. Very much in line with the move of the Cleveland Browns in 1994 to Baltimore, where they became the Baltimore Ravens. The name change was made because the of Cleveland kept the rights to the team's identity and history. The city of Baltimore just got the players, coaches, and the like.
Similar to what happened to the team once known as the Coyotes. The arrival of the new hockey team will allow the city to bestow a fitting name on their new NHL team, which is something some hoped would have happened to the Jazz. While the name is now entrenched with the team's legacy, it doesn't really make a lot of sense geographically speaking.
Smith and co. have a chance of getting a more accurate and impressive name on the hockey team, so hopefully he can get it right.