U.S. Army challenging Vegas Golden Knights on name

Even though they are having an unbelievable first season as a franchise, the Vegas Golden Knights are being challenged by the U.S. Army over their name.

Who said professional hockey wasn’t going to work in the Sin City? In their first year of existence, the expansion Vegas Golden Knights have the best record in the Western Conference at 29-10-2. Their 60 points is the second-best in the NHL behind only the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opposite conference.

While Vegas has been the story in the first half of the 2017-18 NHL season, the Golden Knights are finding themselves in the media for not the best reason on Wednesday. Apparently the U.S. Army doesn’t like Las Vegas’ professional hockey team’s name and color scheme. The folks at West Point feel it’s too much like the Army Black Knights logo. This could be a problem.

According to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, “The United States Army filed a challenge with the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board on Wednesday, saying the Vegas Golden Knights’ name is associated with the military branch.”

Golden Knights owner Bill Foley is a West Point graduate from 1967, obviously paying tribute to his alma mater. This isn’t the first time teams have taken inspiration from the Black Knights’ name and color scheme. The Oakland Raiders’ iconic jerseys are based off the silver of the Detroit Lions and the black of Army football. The UCF Knights use a similar color scheme in their collegiate athletics.

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Knights is one of those nicknames that has not been in North American major professional sports for whatever reason. Las Vegas is really enjoying their first year in the NHL. Obviously, we will have to keep close tabs on how this all shakes out, but why is the U.S. Army waiting until the middle of the Golden Knights’ first season to file a challenge with trademark breach? Why can’t we be friends?