Have you ever wondered why it’s weird that certain teams have weird names that are uncommon to their location? We’ve always watched our favorite sports teams on the television or at the event and cheer them on passionately but have no clue what the name of the team has in common with the city or state that they live in. Usually, sports franchises are moved because of poor fan support or a bad economic situation (debt problems or a recession). In addition, teams can move because another city or state offers a brand new arena or stadium to the current owner which makes it very tempting for them to pack up the franchise and move somewhere else. Moving a team can be controversial. Fans get upset when their favorite team moves to another city but sports franchises are treated like any other business (under antitrust laws) and are free to move as they wish even at the rejection of other league owners or sports league executives. Some franchises (Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Browns,Winnipeg Jets) have seen the team relocate to a new city only for another team to move back to the same city at a later date and keep the same franchise name. Let’s look at a few good and bad team names and figure out what’s the issue with them.
Calgary Flames
-In 1980, the NHL’s Atlanta Flames (named for the fire General Grant inflicted on the city during the Civil War) moved to Calgary. A Canadian hockey franchise has very little to do with the American Civil War. Luckily, the name has proven to be a popular franchise name as most fans can associate the word ‘flame’ much more with the city’s popular oil industry which has another franchise named the Edmonton Oilers not too far away.
The Utah Jazz
-The New Orleans Jazz were in the NBA from 1974-1979. The team had arena issues and would play between the Louisiana Superdome and Loyola University Fieldhouse on different dates. Also, the team needed to be on the road for one month during the year because of Mardi Gras celebrations. The team folded after five seasons because of poor corporate support and a high amusement tax placed on the franchise by the state which hurt the franchise financially. The team owner moved the franchise to Salt Lake City, Utah but kept the team’s name. Jazz music is an iconic institution in New Orleans. The music has helped to create many famous musicians who have played jazz music on Bourbon street. Utah is the home of religious Mormons. They would probably consider jazz music ‘The Devil’s Music’ and not want to listen to it in their homes. Also, Utah is cold and snowy and your fingers would get frozen trying to play the saxophone there. One of Utah’s nicknames is actually ‘Land of the Saints’ which would make more sense than the name given to New Orleans’ own football franchise called ‘The Saints’. In addition, Utah is nicknamed ‘The Beehive State’ and some name involving bees would be more appropriate than something to do with jazz music.
Los Angeles Lakers
-In 1947, the Detroit Gems were purchased for 15 000$ and moved to Minneapolis. The name ‘Lakers’ is a reference to the state’s nickname which is ‘Land of 10 000 Lakes’. Hall of famer George Mikan who is deemed the first ‘Superstar’ in the NBA helped the Lakers win five NBA championships. In 1960, owner Bob Short moved the franchise to Los Angeles and became the NBA’s first team on the West Coast. Most of the lakes in Los Angeles are mainly reservoirs or large ponds and the name has very little in common with the city of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is home to more theaters than any other U.S. state and has miles of beaches along the coast. A more appropriate name for the team would be the ‘Los Angeles Beaches’.
Memphis Grizzlies
-When I think of Memphis; I think of Graceland, Elvis and cool cowboy boots.. The Grizzlies were established as part of the NBA’s expansion into Canada in 1995. The cities of Vancouver and Toronto were both awarded franchises and Vancouver named their franchise after the grizzly bear which is a popular animal in the province of British Columbia. The team relocated to Memphis in 2001. The shipping company FedEx (who are based in Memphis) wanted the team to change their name to the Memphis ‘Express’. The NBA squashed the idea as they didn’t want any NBA franchises to be named after corporations. Unfortunately, ownership decided to keep the franchise name as well as the mascot. So far, the only sightings of grizzly bears in Memphis have been from the team’s mascot because we are unaware of any grizzly bears even existing anywhere near Memphis, Tennessee which makes for a very odd connection of naming your franchise after an animal that doesn’t even exist in your state or any nearby state in that region of the USA.
Detroit Pistons
-The Detroit Pistons were once called the ‘Fort Wayne Pistons’. A piston is a component used in the manufacturing of car engines. The city had a strong local following but Fort Wayne is a small city in Indiana and the local owner thought that it would be a better idea to move the franchise to a larger city such as Detroit, Michigan. In 1957, the team was moved to Detroit and kept the same franchise name. Detroit was still the car capital of the USA and a profitable and leading manufacturer of vehicles so keeping the name ‘Piston’ wasn’t such a big deal since pistons were associated with the manufacturing of cars and wasn’t viewed as anything out of the ordinary in Detroit.
Anaheim Ducks
-We guess that the rule about not naming your team after a corporation doesn’t apply to the National Hockey League if the owners of the team choose instead to name their franchise after one of their corporation’s own movie franchises? The club was founded in 1993 by the Walt Disney Company , a name based on the 1992 film ‘The Mighty Ducks’. When Disney sold the franchise in 1995, the new owners changed the name of the team from ‘Mighty Ducks’ to ‘Ducks’. Anaheim is home to fast food burger franchises like Mcdonalds and has plenty of beaches such as Huntington Beach and is located in the Orange County region. Disneyland isn’t too far away but naming your team after one of their movies was enough of an insult from that company. I hear there are cougars in California? What about a bird like a Condor? These names might stick better than naming your club after a movie franchise.
Houston Rockets
-Before they were the Houston Rockets, they were called the ‘San Diego Rockets’. The San Diego franchise nickname became the Rockets due to the local development of the famed Atlas missile/booster rocket program. In a possible sign of things to come, San Diego’s first pick in the 1968 draft, Elvin Hayes, came from the University of Houston. The Rockets had trouble making the playoffs for two consecutive seasons and because of the team’s poor performance on the court and low attendance; they were eventually moved to Houston and became the NBA’s first franchise in the state of Texas. The ‘Rockets’ name wound up being kept which has worked out well for the city since NASA’s Main Stay and Mission Control is located in Houston, Texas and has kept the rocket tradition alive of being associated with the rocket program and space exploration.
There are many more examples to choose from which we may try to focus on in another article. It’s really cool to follow the history of a franchise and see where the team got their name from and what association (if any) the name has with the city it’s located in. If you do know of any other great name associations with sports franchises then please feel free to write a comment in our comments section and maybe we’ll include it in a future article.
[ratings]
Entries (RSS)