Select Page

Today is a banner day in Winnipeg history. The NHL announced the completion of their deal with local sports and entertainment company True North to bring the Atlanta Thrashers hockey club to Winnipeg. While the mass majority of hockey fans in Winnipeg are literally dancing in the streets and celebrating the return of major league hockey to our city, the media is still searching for answers to a lot of questions about the team. There are a lot of loose ends, but unquestionably the biggest one is in regard to the team’s name.

The frontrunners for name choices, according to the Winnipeg Free Press, are the Jets, Moose and Falcons. Given the NHL’s history in Winnipeg, however, there’s only one name for a team here: the Winnipeg Jets. Many of my Facebook friends have changed their profile pictures to what appears to be a new Jets logo, showing their support for the old brand’s return.

Redesigned Jets Logo

If that does wind up being the team’s name, I wonder if True North’s marketing department has begun to investigate domain names for the team’s website.

If you visit winnipegjets.com right now, you’ll find the homepage of the Canadian Forces Base 17 Wing in Winnipeg.

The Current Winnipegjets.com Homepage

The Current Winnipegjets.com Homepage

If this were the homepage of anything else, I don’t think there’d be much of an issue of acquiring the domain. But considering it’s a military website, I wonder if there’s going to be an issue there.

Will the CFB give up their domain and move somewhere with a more SEO friendly URL? Or will this not be an issue because the hockey team will have a different name? Only time will tell. If I were the CFB, I wouldn’t have a problem giving up the domain, but I don’t know how military webmasters think. My inclination is that they’re … militant.