Jazz owner details process for deciding name of Utah’s NHL franchise

Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith is an outside-the-box thinker.

So, it should be no surprise that Smith has an unconventional approach to naming his new Utah-based NHL franchise. 

During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday, Smith explained that he plans to leave it up to the fans to determine the nickname of their new professional sports team.

“Actually, we’re doing a bracket,” Smith said. “Why isn’t that a good thing? We’ve engaged Qualtrics, I know how to handle the AI bots…and I think we’re going to take this from eight [names] all the way down and the fans are going to vote for this. It should be good.”

Earlier this month, Smith asked his followers for feedback regarding what the nickname for a potential new NHL team should be if Utah was awarded one by the league. His tweet received more than 660 responses with several name suggestions as well as some creative jersey and logo mockups as well.

Smith also disclosed to McAfee that he has plans to renovate the Delta Center, home of the Jazz, to accommodate an NHL-sized crowd better. 

He confirmed his target capacity is approximately 17,300, though he’s already received deposits for season tickets from 27,000 fans. Smith also pointed out that just 400 of the first 6,000 season-ticket requests were Jazz season-ticket holders.