Phoenix Coyotes Announce Name Change for 2014-15 Season

Today, the Phoenix Coyotes have officially announced that they will be changing their team name to the Arizona Coyotes effective the beginning of the 2014-15 NHL season.

“We are very excited to announce that our franchise name will change to Arizona Coyotes for the start of the 2014-15 NHL season.” – Coyotes Co-Owner, President and CEO Anthony LeBlanc

The name change was a part of the agreement the City of Glendale, the home town of the Coyotes, made in exchange for extending the lease keeping the Coyotes in town back last July. In case y’all forgot, the Coyotes were on life support for the better part of 4 years not too long ago.

“Becoming the Arizona Coyotes makes sense for us since we play our games in Glendale and the city is such a great partner of ours. We also want to be recognized as not just the hockey team for Glendale or Phoenix, but the team for the entire state of Arizona and the Southwest. We hope that the name ‘Arizona’ will encourage more fans from all over the state, not just the valley, to embrace and support our team.” – LeBlanc

It also makes sense for them because they were contractually obligated to do so, but whatevs.

There will be no major changes to the rest of the brand associated with the team, uniforms and logos will, for the most part, stay the same.

This logo, which has been worn on the Coyotes shoulder since 2003, will be replaced as part of the name change

The Coyotes announced that there will be a new shoulder patch, the current patch features a State of Arizona map + state flag design with “PHX” below. The new shoulder patch will be unveiled at their first pre-season game this fall.

Phoenix becomes the first NHL team since the Oakland Seals to update their name from a city to a state, the Seals became the California Golden Seals in 1971. The Coyotes also follow the footsteps of a fellow Glendale-based team, the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, who were previously known as the Phoenix Cardinals until 1994.