If you were an AFL team name, where would you hide?
Good question, considering Utah's newest franchise has been silent about what its team name might be.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office might be a good place to find out — and according to records, "Utah Blaze" may be the name in hiding.
According to the Trademark Office, the Arena Football League recently acquired the name "Utah Blaze" this month.
And guess who owns the web name?
Earlier in April, the Garff's bought the domain "utahblaze.com", giving rise to the suspicion that this may be the name hinted at during the press conference last month.
Things have been relatively quiet since the original press conference, and most officials, including Team President Jason Jones, have promised a name in the coming weeks.
"We're working closely with Nike right now in establishing a team identity," Jones said, "and we're looking forward to announcing that in the first half of June."
So will Salt Lake's team be the Blaze?
Maybe, and maybe not.
Often businesses will register more than one name in hopes of disguising what the actual name may be.
A quick browse through the trademark office's records indicates that if the league is disguising the name, this may be the first time.
Colorado has one name, The Crush, registered to it. No dead or abandoned trademarks are associated with Colorado's AFL franchise. Same goes with Los Angeles and New Orleans too.
So far, all the AFL team names are owned by the league office in Chicago, and the Blaze doesn't appear to be any different either. The league owns that one too. The attorney of record on the trademark is also a patent attorney in Chicago as well.
All signs may be pointing to the Blaze name right now, but anything is possible.
Jones acknowledged that several names have been submitted to the league, but declined to comment on whether or not Blaze would be the one.
"We're working with a short list right now, and obviously I can't comment on any names on that list." Jones said.
The trademark record indicates the name was filed May 5th.
Utah acquired the AFL team last October, and the first official announcement came in April when Danny White was announced as the team's head coach.
Utah will begin play in the AFL in 2006.
E-mail: acole@desnews.com