Las Vegas NHL team reportedly registers 3 choices for potential team name

Early speculation about the name of the new Las Vegas-based National Hockey League team focused on the name “Black Knights”, given Foley’s preference for the name as he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, which calls its sports teams the “Black Knights” as well. Also, Nighthawk was the name of the Air Force’s first stealth bomber plane, which made its maiden voyage from Groom Lake and was based out of Nellis Air Force Base.

“I love Black Knights”, Foley said in June when asked about the team’s name.

“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”. According to SportsLogos.net’s Chris Creamer, Desert Hawks, Red Hawks and Nighthawks (or Night Hawks) are among the finalists.

There are some hurdles for both the Nighthawks and Redhawks nicknames.

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. As far as predatory animal team names go, only Wildcats are more generic.

SportsLogos.net noted that out of these three options, Nighthawks would work the best, though there are some trademark issues that could come with this.

RedHawks are not a real bird, but a bowdlerization of “Redskins”, the previous name of Miami (OH) sports teams. Foley previously stated he would like to unveil the official team name, logo and licensed apparel by late September or early October. And hey, there’s already an well-known and successful hockey team who already have “Hawks” in their name.

Las Vegas Desert Hawks, on the other hand, hasn’t been trademarked anywhere by anyone, in Canada and the United States.

An early contender in the name search suggested Foley’s company name could play a large part in the team’s moniker.

“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.