Five months to the day Las Vegas was awarded an expansion team, owner Bill Foley revealed its identity during an event at Toshiba Plaza, just outside T-Mobile Arena, where the Golden Knights will begin play in the 2017-18 season.
"I wanted to have a successful name and a successful logo, and we've done that," Foley said. "This logo, it exudes everything I'm proud of and everything I believe in, in terms of creating this team and this culture we're going to have around this team."
The Golden Knights said their colors -- steel grey, gold, red and black -- reflect the community and the focus of the team. The grey represents strength and durability; Nevada is the largest producer of gold in the United States; the red is taken from the Las Vegas skyline, desert and Red Rock canyons; and the black represents power and intensity.
The Golden Knights logo is a helmet that features a V to represent Las Vegas, and secondary logos include swords that create the star from the iconic Welcome to Las Vegas sign.
Foley said other names were considered, mentioning Nighthawks and Sidewinders, but said Knights has a special meaning to him.
"The Knights are the epitome of the warrior class," the U.S. Military Academy graduate said. "They're team-oriented, they always stick together, they never give up, they never give in. And hockey players are warriors. They've always been team players, all for one. That's us. That's what we'll be."
The announcement was made with an estimated 5,000 people in the plaza and many more watching from an adjacent parking garage. Foley said traffic outside the arena prevented more from attending.
"If this is any indication, and I believe it is, of the support this team is going to receive, the Vegas Golden Knights are going be a huge success," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "We're pleased that we've had an opportunity as a League to admit another member, to have a 31st team start in what will be the beginning of our second 100 years. And to have strong ownership in Bill Foley, to have a state-of-the-art arena in T-Mobile Arena, to come to a market where there's great enthusiasm, which we saw here tonight, and to be in a place that's going to raise the visibility of hockey and the NHL, is all good."
Foley said the reason they will be called the Vegas Golden Knights, rather than Las Vegas, is a local one.
"People that live here call themselves Vegas," Foley said. " 'Where you from? Vegas.' They don't say 'Las Vegas.' We're the Las Vegas Golden Knights, that's four words. We're the Vegas Golden Knights. That's three words. That's the limit."
The NHL is the first of the four major North American professional sports leagues to have a team in Las Vegas. General manager George McPhee said since he was hired July 13, he's been impressed by the passion and devotion the fan base has shown.
"We've known from Day One that something special is going on here," McPhee said. "To have 16,000 people put down deposits to get tickets when there's no guarantee we're going to get a team, to have the media presence we had at our first press conference to announce a manager, to this sort of thing, there's really something special going on.
"There's tremendous civic pride in this hockey club and interest in this hockey club, and it's going to be a great journey. All of the stuff that's going on is really resonating in this community. They've been starved for a pro team and they finally have it, and we finally have an identity."
The Golden Knights will fill out their roster through an expansion draft. The 30 other NHL teams must submit their list of protected players by 5 p.m. ET June 17, 2017. Vegas will pick one player from each team and submit its selections by 5 p.m. ET June 20, and the announcement of the selections will be made June 21.
via NHL.com.
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