Foley says Las Vegas’ name includes Knights, but official reveal will wait

Las Vegas franchise owner Bill Foley said the name is “99 percent as good” as Black Knights, and the jerseys will be designed to look as though there’s a “steel mesh.”

When introducing GM George McPhee, Bill Foley said his Las Vegas expansion franchise would fill out its staff while deciding on a name. And as the staff continues to be filled out, it appears a decision has been made on a moniker.

In an interview with Sportsbook Radio’s Brian Blessing, and first picked up by The SinBin, Foley confirmed the franchise has picked its name after speaking with NHL jersey outfitters Adidas. As many suspected, the name will include Knights — not Hawks, as was once speculated — but the official unveiling of the name, jersey and logo will likely wait until October.

“We have our colors picked, we have our basic logo picked, but it’s going to need some refinement,” Foley told Blessing. “We have moved some color schemes around, and the team will be something Knights. K-n-i-g-h-t-s. We have the name. The name is trademarked, we have the domain name. That’s all I can say right now.”

With that decided, the expectation is the team will take on one of the previously trademarked Knights names, which includes Silver Knights, Golden Knights and Desert Knights. Foley did admit, though, that he still wishes he could have landed the Black Knights name. However, he said the choice the franchise has made is “99 percent as good” as Black Knights, and that the name is one the team could “rally around.”

Foley gave Blessing an idea of what the jerseys would like, too, though it doesn’t make it any clearer which of the Knights names Foley and Co. have chosen for the expansion team.

“It almost looks like a steel mesh with another color underneath the steel mesh that brings out that Knight look,” Foley told Blessing. “These are going to be great looking uniforms and great looking jerseys.”

Steel mesh makes one think Silver Knights might be the frontrunner, but Foley added that the jersey also features colors that play on the environment, such as “red rocks,” and that makes it hard to overlook Desert Knights.

“We’re going to be Vegas-oriented,” Foley told Blessing. “But it won’t be a gambling name.”

It had been reported that Foley was originally hoping to have the team’s logo, jersey and merchandise prepared for the Frozen Fury, a pair of exhibition games featuring the Los Angeles Kings set for the T-Mobile Arena in early October, but he said that won’t be the case.

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