The Edmonton Football Team has released a shortlist of seven candidates for its new name.
Elk, Evergreens, Evergolds, Eclipse, Elkhounds, Eagles and Elements are listed as possibilities on an online survey released Monday.
The CFL team dropped the name “Eskimos” last year. It followed a similar decision by the NFL’s Washington team as pressure mounts on teams to eliminate racist or stereotypical names.
Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team has since announced it also is changing its name.
Edmonton’s survey, the second and final phase of the selection process, asks fans to rate the seven candidates from first to worst. The team says the group selecting the name will take the results into account after the survey concludes Sunday.
Global News spoke to three so-called “experts” on the top name choices in the Global News poll as of Monday afternoon.
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Darren Cheverie is firmly in camp “Edmonton Elk.”
Cheverie is the 2020 winner of the Alberta elk calling championship, hosted by Back Country Hunters and Anglers. He went on to place in the Top 5 of the North American championship.
He said elks and football teams both are extremely vocal.
“They are one of the most vocal animals out there,” he laughed.
“I haven’t met too many football teams that operate in silence.”
The Elk has some competition — it’s not the only mighty creature in town.
“Call me biased, but I have to say the Edmonton Eagles sounds lovely to me,” said Dale Gienow at Wild North, which rehabilitates eagles found in the Edmonton area throughout the year.
“Their long game is fantastic. They don’t use the term ‘eagle eye’ for nothing.”
Gienow said the bird also has a solid ground game.
“They will snatch up things as large as deer or wolves. They will take animals 10 times their size.
“They are known for their perseverance. They almost went extinct and they bounced back.”
Others say the perfect name comes down to a matter of science.
The TELUS World of Science’s Frank Florian said he’s partial to “Edmonton Eclipse.”
“Putting the other team in shadow… your team is in the highlight and everyone else is going to be left behind,” Florian said. “You can have a lot of fun with that name.”
The team says it had 14,833 submissions with 2,047 unique name entries in the first phase of the selection process.
The team has been known as the Edmonton Football Team, or EE Football Team, since dumping the old name. The team’s logo continues to feature two Es.
Below is an unofficial poll we’re running to see what our readers think is the best name.
To vote in the actual poll, visit the football team’s website.
—With files from The Canadian Press
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