“From Day 1, we committed that this team would be built with and for the people of Utah, and we are excited to celebrate today’s launch with the entire state,” owners Ryan and Ashley Smith said in a statement. “The community chose the Utah Mammoth brand, and it stands as a symbol of who we are, where we came from and the unstoppable force we’re building together.”
The NHL established a new franchise in Utah on April 18, 2024, and Utah purchased the hockey assets of the Arizona Coyotes.
The branding process of a professional sports team usually takes at least 18 months from design to trademark clearance. On a compressed timeline, Utah adopted the temporary identity of the Utah Hockey Club while working on the permanent identity with the design firm Doubleday & Cartwright.
Fans voted on names and logos. In the end, Utah Mammoth stomped the other finalists: Utah Hockey Club and Utah Outlaws.
“When it came to naming the team, we did something unprecedented -- going through four rounds of community voting, including getting feedback not only on potential names but also on potential logos,” the Smiths said. “We love the passion of the people of Utah and the way they showed up for the team during its inaugural season and the energy they brought to voting on its permanent identity.”
Paleontologists have found mammoth bones “at various spots in the state, some so well-preserved that they still contained tatters of DNA,” according to an article on the Natural History Museum of Utah website.
That gives the Mammoth historical significance, while details provide a sense of place, according to the team.
The “Mountain Mammoth” primary logo also sits on the shoulders of the away jersey. A new “Utah Badge” secondary logo sits on the shoulders of the home jersey, featuring the outline of the state of Utah, the stairstep “U-T-A-H” from the inaugural uniforms, and a hockey stick. A tusk cuts through the “U” in another secondary logo on both sets of pants.
