Analysis: Nickname switch just a matter of time at U.

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It's just a matter of time, now.

The "Utes" cannot exist for much longer.

It's not so much that the NCAA has banned the University of Utah's "hostile and abusive" nickname and logo from appearing at its championship events.

That's a directive with which the university will have an easy enough time complying, with new uniforms and equipment bearing the simple "Block U" or some other logo instead of the word "Utes" or the drum-and-feather image. Many of its teams get new uniforms with new styles and designs each season, anyhow.

The larger issue from a sporting perspective is the NCAA's refusal to allow teams with offending nicknames to play host to its championship events, starting Feb. 1. That decision would have a far greater impact on the university's athletic profile than the name by which its teams are known.

"We have a reputation as a school that hosts a lot of NCAA championships, and we do enjoy that and we do get a lot of good publicity from it with the fans and the media," associate athletic director Liz Abel said. "If all of this holds up . . . I'd have to think we're going to need to look into maybe changing [the nickname], because we do like to host those events."

Indeed, the Utes are one of the all-time great hosts.

They always will be remembered for providing the backdrop to one of great men's basketball Final Fours of all time, the 1979 version that featured Magic Johnson and his Michigan State Spartans against Larry Bird on the Indiana State Sycamores in the championship game.

Not only that, but the Huntsman Center has entertained tournament games 12 other times since its construction in 1969 - remember the double-overtime thriller between Arizona and Gonzaga two years ago? - providing a setting for great players like Tim Duncan, Gary Payton, Danny Ainge, Tim Hardaway and Tom Chambers, just to name a few.

The arena also ranks second all-time with 75 tournament games having been played there - and will pull within two of the record held by Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City when it is host to six more first- and second-round games in March.

And that's just basketball.

The NCAA has held seven women's gymnastics championships at the Huntsman Center, along with eight regional championships. The Utes also have entertained women's soccer and volleyball tournament games on their campus in recent years, giving them one of their strongest athletic traditions - and one that lends significant heft to their growing athletic profile - as well as providing a source of pride for sports fans around the state.

Part with it?

Unlikely.

And though the new policy does not apply to Division I-A football teams because they play postseason bowl games that do not fall under the jurisdiction of the NCAA, what if the NCAA ever caved in and abandoned the bowl system to sanction a championship tournament like the ones its holds in its lower classifications?

The Utes certainly would not want to risk missing a piece of that pie.

All of which illustrates the way the NCAA is attempting to rid its ranks of the nicknames, mascots and logos it believes are offensive.

The organization was unable to ban them outright, knowing it does not have the authority to do such a thing, but it does know that any aspiring university would never think to eliminate itself from consideration from entertaining prestigious postseason games.

And it's right.

The Utes won't last long now.

But amid the discussion of whether and why the Utes' nickname and drum-and-feather logo are "hostile and abusive," there remains at least one good question about the way the NCAA has targeted certain images and not others.

President Myles Brand said in a written statement that the NCAA "objects to institutions using racial/ethnic/national origin references in their intercollegiate athletic programs." Presumably, that means it objects to all "racial/ethnic/national origin references," and that seems like an enlightened enough position, within the context of using a group of people as a subservient (and often stereotyped and caricatured) mascot, in the manner of a pet.

Why, then, would the organization target only American Indian names and images - and not even all of those, evidently depending on whether the offending school can mollify the group with statistics showing relatively high American Indian enrollment?

Why not the Irish?

Why not the Quakers?

Why not the Aztecs?

The NCAA includes Scots and Cajuns and Dutchmen, too.

A spokesman for the NCAA had no explanation when asked about that Friday, saying only that the NCAA Executive Committee chose to focus only on American Indian names at the moment, despite Brand's strident wording.

Well, that much is clear.

Maybe the squeaky wheel simply gets the grease, or maybe the NCAA doesn't object quite as much as its president claims it does. In any case, it doesn't look like the Utes can afford to keep their nickname around much longer.