Edmonton’s football team is putting out a call to fans to find its new name.
EE NameTime launched Sunday morning and fans are encouraged to submit their picks.
“We want to make sure that with all they’ve done to help build our current brand, that they’re included in every decision we make around our future name because they’re the ones that helped develop our former name, they’re the ones that supported that name, they’re the ones that helped us develop the former brand and our EE name,” president and CEO Chris Presson said.
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The team is looking to keep the EE brand, as well as the green and gold colours, but fans are encouraged to submit any suggestion.
“If you want to get creative with it and the EE happens to be in the middle of some other name you come up with, you may as well submit it. We’ll consider every name.”
After the names are collected, Presson says the team will go through all the submissions and narrow it down before releasing those names for the fans to weigh in on.
Fans won’t get to vote on the final name though. Presson points to the recent announcement of the Seattle Kraken joining the NHL. In that case, the name only had support from 27 per cent of the fans, but it worked for the franchise’s brand.
“It’s all about how we can use the name, how can we continue to build on the EE brand that we already have, how can we build on the green and gold, what story can we tie to that, what’s the brand presence and so much more,” he said.
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Interest from the fans to weigh in on the new name is high, Presson said. About 3,000 people have already submitted their own names to the club, unsolicited.
As for the club, it’s a unique experience for them as well.
“When you do this for a living, you don’t really ever get an opportunity to have this sort of an impact on a team and on a community and on a league by choosing a new name,” Presson said.
There isn’t an exact timeline for when the new name will be released, as Presson says the club wants to make sure they get it right. He expects the new name to be release in the spring.