Tomorrow night marks the first air date of the second episode of Behind The Vegas Ice, the documentary series chronicling the genesis of the Golden Knights.
The first episode went through the early stages when hockey in Vegas was just a pipe dream to when the team was finally announced. Tomorrow’s is titled “Making A Name for Itself” and its focus is on the ever scrutinized naming of the team.
The focus of the show is likely to be on the process of naming the team, but a press release about the episode also highlighted the Practice Facility groundbreaking and one other thing, which I think most readers of this site will find particularly interesting.
In “Making a Name for Itself” the yet-to-be-named Las Vegas NHL team celebrates the groundbreaking of their practice facility in Summerlin with Golden Knights’ owner Bill Foley and community leaders in attendance. Unveiling of the team name and logo during a grand celebration front of T-Mobile Arena. The team’s chief legal counsel provides insight into dealings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. -Cox Communications Press Release
That’s right, they are actually going to tackle the trademark issues and show behind the scenes of what went on the night the news broke, and ironically the night Episode 1 premiered.
It will likely be much more of the same of what we’ve heard thus far, but either way, it’s good to see the strategy is not to ignore, but instead to face it head on. What Peter Sadowski, the aforementioned chief legal counsel, is shown saying is intriguing enough for me to have my eyes glued to Channel 1096 at 8:00 tomorrow night. They also bought BehindTheVegasIce.com, so you can use that to stream it instead of whatever the website used to be. (Or if you’re in Vegas, Born and Raised is throwing watch parties once again.)
That is of course if you are within a 50 mile radius of Las Vegas. Our efforts to have Cox lift the geo-restrictions have ultimately proven unsuccessful to this point.
We’re looking at opportunities to expand broadcast of the show beyond Southern Nevada.” -Juergen Barbusca, Manager of Communications, Cox Las Vegas
But believe me, the emails we sent last month were received, heard, and I truly believe the show will eventually be available world wide. But until then, let’s keep making our voice heard. Click the link, and keep the emails coming. Once a month, I want Cox to hear from the SinBin army (we really need to pick a real name for this) to know we won’t give up.
Here’s the promo video for Episode 2, hopefully it lives up to the promise and gives us something to chew on regarding the (still) pending trademark.
PhiSig 150
On the one hand I appreciate the transparency while on the other it seems like every month something new pops up to start the name argument all over again and further fuel the hatred. Hopefully this the last of it. Hard to move on when it keeps getting brought up over and over and over again. As long as Foley keeps giving us options of merchandise to buy with just the logos I’m good.
I also wonder how big of an issue the name is anyway? Are we just in blog bubble where it seems a bigger deal than it actually is? Even if the dislike is widespread among locals is Foley so insulated that the criticism never gets back to him? Or is he too busy with everything else to care?
Ken Boehlke
In reality I don’t think it’s a big deal, but the perception is out there and it’s not good. Ask just about anyone and they’ll bring up the fact that “the name might change.”
PhiSig 150
I’ve never thought and still don’t think that Foley is going to be forced to change the name. This snafu unfortunately leaves the door open in some peoples minds and prevents the fan base as a whole from moving on. The quicker we can slam the door shut on this issue the better (for now anyway). It does seem like they could avoided this by going with a unique name like Silver or Desert or No adjective and working something out with the Canadian trademark holder. I know these things happen all the time but it strikes me that Foley was taken a little bit by surprise. Pretty sure Foley was expecting a clear trademark from the get go. The negative press surrounding this issue has to annoy him on some level. I get similar things have happened to MLS teams but this is a major 4 franchise. Things like this at this level really shouldn’t go down. Foley, Bettman, et al need to make this all go away ASAP , at the very latest by the time the drafts roll around.
sparky chewbarky
Yes Phi…this needs to be resolved, quickly.
Settle with Saint Rose, either in court, or behind the scene ($).
Get a positive statement from the Army.
The last word from the Army Golden Knights didn’t sound too supportive.
If the Army is OK with the similarities in name, colours and logo, there shouldn’t be a problem….. Right?
When the Winnipeg Jets created a Royal Canadian Air Force theme, they had complete buy-in from the RCAF. They kept the Canadian Military in the loop at all stages, and agreed to donate a million dollars to military charities over several years.
Get ‘er done guys!!
PhiSig 150
Exactly. With his Army roots and his desire to have his team in some way connected to that, I am surprised Foley didn’t have a similar working relationship with the military. I wonder if it was Adidas or the NHL that dropped the ball and not Foley. I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt. You would think Adidas and NHL could have ironed out the trademark issues well ahead of time and got the military on board. It’s not it’s their first rodeo.
Seems like an easy fix going forward. Charitable donation to the school and Foley donates money for every goal scored or something to Wounded Warrior Project and they give the Knights a positive press release. Just no camo jerseys. I hate camo jerseys.
CaptainJohn
I agree on this. Legally, they’ll get through the college’s challenge.
But to me the bigger issue is with the Army.
Foley was fully aware of the Army’s Golden Knights. Why didn’t he run the idea past them? It would’ve been the right thing to do, whether he had to do it legally or not. I can’t see this identity problem being over until the Army gives this thing its blessing.
Phisig150
That’s the one thing we still haven’t heard a reasonable explanation for. Why Foley of all people decided to circumvent the Army’s wishes and sneek in Golden Knights name (no one is buying the gold mines /sky/the Strip BS at all Foley ). Black Knights early on was a no go so he decides to go with the parachute team (more well known than Ken acknowledges) and not discuss it with the military first (maybe he did but it sure doesn’t seem like it). Makes no sense at all. Strange way to honor an institution he loves so much. Would love to hear Foley explain that in more depth one day.
PhiSig150
I want to be clear in saying I’m not necessarily accusing Foley of doing anything shady or underhanded but he didn’t exactly surround himself with the best creatives on this. Foley wants something to represent Army values and he really likes Knights. Ok let’s see… I got it! Silver, Desert, and Golden Knights. Boom. Nailed it! Those aren’t even the best Knights options. No adjective Knights. Las Vegas Knights of Valor. (Las) Vegas Victorious Knights. Hell even Knight Owls (just shove the Hooters Owl into our current knights’s helm). Las Vegas Battle Born would have honored all branches including our Air Force and he could have still used the same logos. Same with Las Vegas Valor. I’m sure a lot of money and man power was sunken into this to end up with name that honors an institution that doesn’t want the honor, a name that doesn’t poll well with locals, and a name that hit an embarrassing trademark snag. That being said Viva Los Knights!!!