By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Things might be getting a little sticky for the Vegas Golden Knights in the city of Henderson.
A community group that opposes Henderson city officials using public dollars on a VGK minor league hockey arena at the Henderson Pavilion site says it has enough signatures to force a public vote on the $84 million hockey venue deal.
The group says it has collected about 2,900 signatures to stage a referendum in November asking city voters whether city government should use public assets to rebuild the Henderson Pavilion into the 6,000-seat Henderson Events Center to house the VGK’s new Henderson Silver Nights of the American Hockey League, a Triple A pro hockey league. The organization says 2,117 verified petition signatures are needed to force a public vote.
And now the group, which is called the Henderson Coalition for Responsible Government, is also raising another issue. Group members are contacting California-based Dark Horse Wines because they believe the Henderson Silver Knights logo looks strikingly similar to the wine’s logo. E&J Gallo Winery owns the Dark Horse brand.
Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, who just happens to owns multiple wineries and wine brands in California, ran into a trademark dispute with the U.S. Army three years ago over the Golden Knights name and mark because the Army’s “Golden Knights” are also the branch’s parachute team. The trademark dispute was resolved nearly two years ago with a trademark coexistence agreement.
Henderson Coalition for Responsible Government spokesman John Dalrymple said he works in advertising and believed the Silver Knights and Dark Horse logos were too similar.
“If I was working with a client, I would advise them to step away from that (logo) because the similarities are so close,” Dalrymple said Wednesday.
A woman contacted the Henderson coalition group with this email after she saw the Dark Horse logo: “Good morning. Last night we were at Claim Jumper and I noticed a bottle of wine behind the bar the symbol looks interestingly identical to the Silver Knights logo. It is Dark Horse wines and we just looked it up, owned by Gallo vineyards. Wonder if Gallo released this with their approval or if this might be copy right infringement?”
Take a look at the Silver Knights (first one) and the Dark Horse logos.
Golden Knights PR head Eric Tosi said the Silver Knights-Dark Horse logos were not an issue.
And the Henderson City Council forged ahead Tuesday by awarding the design/build contract to a local team headed by The Whiting Turner Contracting Company as lead design builder. Other companies involved in the pavilion-to-arena rebuild are Las Vegas-based Klai Juba Wald Architecture + Interiors as lead architect and Perkins and Will (P+W, Inc. Nevada as specialty architect. The projected Henderson Events Center completion date is June 2022.
The city’s outside PR consultant Melissa Warren spread the word Wednesday that, “The $84 million contract requires the awardee to design and build the project to requirements established by the City and SK Arena, LLC, an affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights and owner of the Henderson Silver Knights, for a maximum price guarantee of $70 million with $14 million preserved for technology and contingencies. Project costs are being shared equally through a public-private partnership between the City of Henderson and SK Arena.”
The city of Henderson will contribute $42 million in public money to the project, while Foley’s VGK will pay the other $42 million.
After the city council approved the design/build contract Tuesday, the coalition’s Dalrymple asked today, “Can the city go forward with construction design and work while there is a pending ballot initiative?”
The answer is yes, said Kathleen Richards, the city of Henderson’s PR staffer.
Dalrymple said his group has no beef with the Golden Knights or the concept of a minor league hockey arena. The coalition, however, does not want public money used for an arena project while arguing the pavilion site at Green Valley Parkway near Paseo Verde Parkway is not a good location for the arena. The group believes the AHL arena should be built near the Raiders headquarters and Henderson executive airport in western Henderson.
“The very quality of life that attracted them to the pavilion site is the quality of life they will permanently damage,” Dalrymple said. He argued the new arena would create traffic problems for an already busy area where 18,000 residents live within a mile radius from the events center site. “They picked the wrong site.”
LVSportsBiz.com also called Gallo wines for comment about the logos and we were told the winery’s media team will be advised of our interest for a comment on the logo issue.
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