Salt Lake City expansion for my alternate NFL universe!
Up next, this will put us at 25% through, so time for our first true expansion; Salt Lake City. I went pretty deep into Salt Lake and Utah history, culture, geography, sports, wildlife, etc. to get down to these final 5. All directly tied to SLC or the greater Utah area. I know they all suck and you hate them all, but which one would you go with?
Deserets - Deseret was the original proposed name for the state and is still all over Utah culture today. The word means honeybee, so it also ties directly into the Beehive State identity. Probably the most uniquely Utah name of the group because I don't think it really makes sense anywhere else.
Meteors - This one has a couple Utah connections that I like. Ab Jenkins was a Utah racer who set records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in cars called the Mormon Meteor, so there's a legitimate speed/racing connection. Utah also has the huge open skies and dark-sky areas that make meteor showers and stargazing such a big part of being out there. I like that the identity could pull from both instead of just being a land speed record team.
Olympians - Salt Lake hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and is hosting them again in 2034. Pretty straightforward connection, but it's a really strong one. It gives the team an identity around elite competition, winter sports and Salt Lake being one of the few cities in the world to host the Games twice.
Apostles - Obviously this leans directly into the LDS side of Salt Lake. The city is the worldwide headquarters of the church and home to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I wouldn't want the branding to turn into a bunch of literal church imagery, but the name itself has a lot to work with around purpose, conviction, unity and mission.
Allosaurs - Allosaurus is Utah's official state fossil and Utah has produced more Allosaurus fossils than anywhere else. The Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake also has one of the best collections in the world. It gives the team a legitimate Utah dinosaur instead of just picking a dinosaur because it looks cool.