In a nod to regionalism, the minor league hockey team that will play in Allentown's new downtown arena starting in 2014 won't be named after the city, but instead will be called the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
The name mirrors that of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, who also play their games in Allentown.
The method of funding the Phantoms' new arena may have temporarily divided suburb against city in the Valley last spring, but the Phantoms' owners say they were determined to make a statement that their team will be a regional asset.
"We are excited to play in Allentown and proud to be a part of the city's revitalization, which will enhance the entire region," Phantoms co-owner Rob Brooks said in a statement. "We feel strongly that we will be the home team for the entire Lehigh Valley."
The Phantoms logo will undergo minor changes, with a bolder new type style spelling out the words Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and electric blue replacing purple as an accent color.
Though the team will not bear the name Allentown, the city's No. 1 fan didn't seem to mind Wednesday.
"Allentown is happy to be the 30-year home for another professional sports franchise in the Lehigh Valley," Mayor Ed Pawlowski said in a statement. "As I ride by the arena site every day, I get more and more excited about how things will look when they drop the puck in the fall of 2014."
The $272 million arena complex at Seventh and Hamilton streets will also include an office building with a Lehigh Valley Hospital sports medicine center and a 180-room hotel. Pawlowski has billed the arena complex and the development that will follow as the catalyst for a new, rejuvenated downtown Allentown.
Co-owner Jim Brooks explained that the team had five names to choose from, with the other three being the Pennsylvania Phantoms, the Philadelphia Phantoms and the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Phantoms. But serious consideration was given only to the Allentown and Lehigh Valley names.
Pawlowski, who was upset when the IronPigs didn't take on the city name, for months has lobbied to have the city in the hockey team name.
"Believe it or not we took a lot of time studying it," Jim Brooks said. "Ultimately we decided our reach goes well beyond city lines and we intend to be a community leader in not just Allentown, but Bethlehem and Easton and beyond."
Suburban municipalities revolted in March when they learned the city's one-of-a-kind Neighborhood Improvement Zone would tap some of their residents' earned income taxes to finance arena construction. Nearly 20 joined a lawsuit filed against the zone.
In June, state lawmakers passed legislation backed by state Sen. Pat Browne that exempted non-residents' earned income tax from being tapped to fund projects in the zone. That settled the dispute.
Still, despite the four-month court battle that delayed the opening of the arena by a year, residents of those suburbs will be important for the success of the arena and city.
"Some people might have felt better, in a parochial sense, if it had been the Allentown Phantoms, but we live in a region and this is a regional team," Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce President Tony Iannelli said. "It's not about a city. It's about attracting the biggest fan base and building a marketplace. We should embrace this choice. I like it a lot."
In a short time, any controversy over the name will be forgotten as fans embrace the team and its new logo, said Daniel Funk, a Temple University sports marketing expert.
"Either way, I think it will be OK," Funk said. "They just have to start activating the brand, getting it out there in front of people, making it resonate."
And keeping the team name Phantoms could help attract fans who followed the team when it played in Philadelphia a few years ago. "It's pretty hard to make a hockey fan," he said. "It's easier to borrow a hockey fan."
The Phantoms now play in Glens Falls, N.Y., where they are known as the Adirondack Phantoms. For those who can't wait to get Lehigh Valley Phantoms merchandise, it's already on sale at Phantomsarena.com.
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