The Web site Sports Logos.net created quite a bit of speculation this weekend when Chris Creamer reported that True North Sports and Entertainment* registered Winnipeg/Manitoba Whiteout as a trademark. Many people made the logical leap that the team might be called the Winnipeg/Manitoba Whiteout, with the former tantalizing the senses of the alliteration-loving masses.
If you were planning on bringing Wite-Out bottles to games to mock the Winnipeg Whatevers, you’ll do it without effect. The Winnipeg Free Press debunked that theory today and the logic behind their rebuke is pretty simple. Rather than serving as the team name, they registered the trademark for events when fans would all wear white, a tradition Winnipeg Jets fans practiced years ago (which everyone and their uncle have used to a sometimes-nauseating [and increasingly bland] effect since).
That seems pretty sensible, but True North will continue to deal with speculation like this until they announce the new team’s name. They cannot complain about it, either, after they promised to reveal their mascot once the Drive to 13 was completed. It took four minutes for that to happen on Saturday afternoon, but we’re still waiting for an answer.
Once it surfaces, we’ll let you know. In the mean time, feel free to vote on what the team name should be.
* - Apparently the company’s legal name was listed as “6282980 Manitoba Limited Partnership” in the paperwork, according to Creamer’s report.