from Bill Bradley of the Las Vegas Review-Journal,

Bird might be the word for the Las Vegas NHL franchise.

Franchise owner Bill Foley said Thursday night that he has registered domain names for the nicknames Red Hawks, Nighthawks and Desert Hawks. Foley said he is close to registering two other names as well.

SportsLogos.Net, which has a reputation for finding newly registered sports nicknames and logo changes, first reported the names Thursday.

The three “hawks” names for the team, which is scheduled to open play in 14 months, are registered as several different domain names by Foley’s Black Knight IP Holding Company, LLC.

While the red hawks and desert hawks do not actually exist, the nighthawks are birds that are indigenous to the state, according to the Nevada Department of Wildlife. Also, Nighthawk was the name of the Air Force’s first stealth bomber plane, which made its maiden voyage from Groom Lake and was based out of Nellis Air Force Base.

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