Las Vegas NHL team Owner Bill Foley is "not any closer to finding a name or color scheme" for his expansion franchise than he was a week ago, according to Steve Carp of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. He does have a "temporary" logo that the NHL has "furnished the team with." It is an image that Foley "can use that has the league’s shield with the name 'Las Vegas' underneath it." Foley's hockey advisor, Murray Craven, said that the hope is to "have a name, a logo, the colors and a uniform sometime in September." Craven: "We’re exchanging names and ideas with the NHL and they’ve come back with names for us. They’ve been great to us, as has adidas, who have some great ideas for uniform designs." He added that if someone holds a "name, trademark, copyright or a domain name and are interested in selling it to Foley, don’t bother." Craven: "Someone wanted $50,000 for the name ‘Desert Turtles.' Somehow, I don’t see us calling ourselves the Las Vegas Desert Turtles." Carp notes the team "probably won’t be called the Wranglers or the Thunder either." Former Int'l Hockey League team Owner Ken Stickney "still owns the rights" to the Thunder name, logo and colors. The ECHL "owns the name and brand of the Wranglers." ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna: "We own all the names of all the teams that have played or are playing (in the ECHL). Frankly, I would be surprised to hear from them now. But if they called to say they were interested in reviving the Wranglers name in Las Vegas, we would have an open mind about it." Stickney said that he "hasn’t heard from anyone connected with the NHL team." Stickney: "I’m sure they can come up with a better name, but if they ever decided to want to use the ‘Thunder’ name we’d be honored to see the name used again in Las Vegas" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 7/23).
