Read something today that discussed the state of Buffalo Bills football, and one of the things that came up was the moving of a few games to Toronto to help get sell outs and broaden the fan base.
This is showing a weakness in the franchise, and one of the things mentioned in the article is that sooner or later, a weak performing team (at the gate, not necessarily on the field, although they usually go hand in hand) will be sold and relocated to LA.
I’d hate to see the Bills relocate, but if they did, would they keep the name? Bills is a ridiculous name for a franchise, but it works in Buffalo. In fact, it works great in Buffalo. But they wouldn’t keep the name if they moved to LA, would they?
Common sense says no, but when the Jazz moved from New Orleans to Utah, they kept that name, making it one of the dumbest franchise names this side of LA Lakers.
So, what do you all think? Change the name, or keep it? (Assuming they move)?
The trend lately seems to be for cities to keep the rights to the name. Cleveland kept the Browns’ name and history when the team moved to Baltimore, and reconstituted a new Browns team a few years later. Seattle (or so I’ve read) owns the rights to the Supersonics’ name and is actively trying to get a new team to take on the mantle.
Buffalo could keep the Bills, but Los Angeles would have to come up with a new name for them. Both the Rams and the Raiders took their identities with them when they left L.A.
Actually, that’s pretty rare. Art Modell left the Browns name in large part because if he didn’t the Cleveland fans would have hunted him down and lynched him. He was trying to give something back to an enraged fan base who needed something to hang into. But believe me, Art Modell wanted to take the Browns name and all the franchise records with him. The Browns have a rich history, being the best NFL team in the 50’s, and having some of the all-time greats play for the franchise.
Seattle does have the ability to use the Supersonic name, but I’m not sure if it was left for them, or when they moved, the team decided to change the name because 1) Supersonics reflects the huge aircraft industry of Seattle, and 2) they don’t have the history of the Boston Celtics.
Most teams take the team name with them, as can be seen with the Arizona/St. Louis/Chicago Cardinals, and the St. Louis/LA/Cleveland Rams. The only time a team name isn’t transferred is if the owner hates the name and wants to switch, or like the Browns example, the owner is trying to save his own behind and give something back to a city that supported his team for 50 + years. There also is the odd owner that switches the teams name because the new city + nickname makes no sense, but even that is rare. I don’t know how many Grizzley Bears are around the Greater Memphis area, but there certainly were many Grizzleys around Vancouver at one time.
I hope not. That will remind me of that ridiculous movie with Al Pacino coaching the Miami Sharks in “On Any Given Sunday”.
How about the LA Smog? Nah, negative connotations for the city, and I hate the “doesn’t end in “s” trendy soccer team names.”
How about the “Stars”, since they have such a connection to Hollywood and the movie industry?
Or “Stevedores” for their huge Port industry? (They still have a huge port industry, don’t they?)
They could also go with Gangs, Crypts, or Bloods, but that’s probably worse than Smog.
L.A. has had 3 franchises (Rams, Chargers, and Raiders) that couldn’t make it in L.A., thanks to lack of attendance. L.A. may root for a winning team, but that just shows how fair weathered their fans are. Which reminds me:
“Lakers” is an awful name for a team from LA, however it “sounds” good to the ear, which is probably one of the reasons they kept it. But I don’t think LA is know for its lakes like Minneapolis and Minnesota are (land of 10,000 lakes used to be their license plate slogan in Minnesota)
The Sonics may not have had the history of the Celtics, but it was nothing to shake a stick at, either. They played there for 40 years. Seattle was a one-sport town before the Seahawks and Mariners[sup]*[/sup], and they’re still the only one to bring home a title.
What I said was that this is a new trend. What other teams have moved recently, since the Browns set the precedent? The cynical view is that cities do this now because of the intellectual property implications. Seattle may feel they have a bit more leverage in getting a new team because they can grant the old name, along with accompanying jersey and merchandise sales, to attract an owner.
There were the Seattle Pilots for one year before they moved to become the Brewers. And I’ve seen references to a hockey team some years ago, but don’t know the details.
No, what you said was. “the trend lately”, which is a bit different and implies that more than one or two teams have done it.
The Browns are the only team I know of that put the name in a trust for a new expansion team to come in and take the old name, records, and everything else. I don’t know if the Sonics did that, or if the name is just sitting out there.
A number of teams have moved recently. The Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans and became the New Orleans Hornets. New Orleans is changing their name to the Pelicans, and there is talk that Charlotte is becoming the Hornets again. Apparently, when you give up a name in the NBA, it is available for use again. I don’t think, however, that any of the stats that the Hornets generated in N.O. Will be moved with the name Hornets if it goes back to Charlotte.
I really don’t know how this works, to be honest… I’m just going on what I know from the past on what’s happened. And from what I remember, the Cleveland situation with the Browns was unique, not the beginning of a trend. And any teams moving and changing their name (like the Montreal Expos to the Washington Nationals) have kept all of the stats and records from when they were the Expos.
It’s not really a sign of weakness. Toronto has long been a big part of the Bills’ fanbase. Keep in mind that for most of the Green Bay Packers’ history they split their schedule between Lambeau and Milwaukee. The Bills aren’t going anywhere.
I believe now, and continue to maintain, that the NFL will not move a team to LA anytime soon. They have been using relocation as a lever to get stadium financing since the mid-1990s, and once that lever goes away it’ll be infinitely more difficult to get cities to pony up because they won’t have that threat anymore.
Besides, LA has had several bites of the apple and hasn’t been able to make it work. The big reason is that the city wants any team to move into the Colosseum, and that’s too big by about 40%. They can’t sell it out, so they get blacked out, and blackouts kill fanbases. There’s been a lot of talk about a new football-only stadium, but nothing’s been delivered. Once they have firm stadium plans for LA it’ll be something to worry about, but even then the team to move will undoubtedly be the Jaguars.
Last, even if LA gets a team, what could possibly be gained by that? The NFL has been growing exponentially since 1995 when the Rams left, they can’t honestly say that not having an LA team is hurting the business.
Modell didn’t leave the name out of the goodness of his heart. He did so as part of a settlement for breaking an iron-clad stadium lease that required the team to play all of its official NFL home games at Cleveland Stadium. He figured leaving the name and heritage wouldn’t take any money out of his pocket so he agreed to do it.
As for LA, two points. One, LA’s problem as far as the NFL is concerned isn’t lack of attendance, it is a lack of willingness to foot the bill for a palatial stadium. There are more than enough entertainment options in SoCal that the people there aren’t willing to pay for a new stadium. Two, the LA Stars would be a good name for the team. It was used by a previous ABA team and by a Pacific Coast League baseball team back in the day, the Hollywood Stars.
He wasn’t “trying” to give it, it was a settlement he had to agree on with the NFL to avoid legal action that might have screwed up the move. Demanding the Browns’ branding and “history” was an NFL demand. Modell wasn’t worried about lynchings, he was worried about money.