"Vegas Golden Knights" - Ha ha ha ha

[RickJay]

@Johnny_Ace

All but one of those teams (the Raptors) had a history with the name from previous moves or other factors. The Nationals is a throwback to almost the very beginning of baseball (we’re talkin’ 1890’s here, then for most of the first half of the 20th century).

Well, okay; Anaheim Ducks. They’re doing fine. New Orleans… Pelicans? Come on; bad names or logos within the bounds of what pro sports franchises actually don’t hurt a team and you can’t name any examples. Minnesota Wild? Doing just fine. That’s it. And the Utah Jazz had been in New Orleans for all of five losing seasons. Hardly a proud history a la the Dodgers to keep the name for.

If the team wins people will rally around the stupid name. Here’s what matters:

1. A sufficient number of fans
2. Winning
3. A suitable facility

Vegas will fail. It doesn’t have enough of #1 to go around for more than a few seasons, and it won’t be winning for a little while, so by 2020 there will be many, many cheap tickets available.

[Rick_Kitchen]

New Orleans… Pelicans? Come on

The use of a pelican has a long tradition in New Orleans, not to mention being on the Louisiana state flag.

The Nationals is a throwback to almost the very beginning of baseball (we’re talkin’ 1890’s here, then for most of the first half of the 20th century).

The Phillies used to be called the Nats because their official name is the Philadelphia National Baseball League Team.

[Johnny_Ace]

@Rick_Kitchen

The use of a pelican has a long tradition in New Orleans, not to mention being on the Louisiana state flag.

The Phillies used to be called the Nats because their official name is the Philadelphia National Baseball League Team.

[QUOTE=Wikipedia: Washington Senators (1891-99)]
The Washington Senators were a 19th-century baseball team. The team was also known as the Washington Statesmen and the Washington Nationals. The team played at Boundary Field.
[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Wikipedia: History of the Washington Senators (1901-1960)]
The Washington Senators baseball team was one of the American League’s eight charter franchises. The club was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1901 as the Washington Senators. In 1905, the team changed its official name to the Washington Nationals.[1] The name “Nationals” appeared on the uniforms for only two seasons, and was then replaced with the “W” logo for the next 52 years. However, the names “Senators”, “Nationals” and shorter “Nats” were used interchangeably by fans and media for the next sixty years; in 2005, the latter two names were revived for the current National League franchise that had previously played in Montreal.
[/QUOTE]

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[silenus]

@MichaelEmouse

Don’t you mean “near Las Vegas”? : )

Not for a measly $300 he doesn’t! That kind of money barely rates a crack whore hand job just over the county line.

[RickJay]

@Rick_Kitchen

The Phillies used to be called the Nats because their official name is the Philadelphia National Baseball League Team.

I honestly cannot find any source anywhere that this name is or has ever been applied to the Phillies or their parent corporation.

[Rick_Kitchen]

@RickJay

I honestly cannot find any source anywhere that this name is or has ever been applied to the Phillies or their parent corporation.

My cite is from personal memory.

[cmkeller]

They were the Blue Jays for a few years in the 1940’s, maybe that’s what your memories are recalling imperfectly?

[Jim_s_Son]

@Jackmannii

Maybe the powers that be didn’t want “Las Vegas Knights” because it reminded them of the dreadful baseball team in “The Natural”.

Somewhere down the line “Las Vegas Knights” (has a ring to it, sorta) may well supplant the current name, just as “Tampa Bay Rays” replaced “Tampa Bay Devil Rays”.

.

The explanation that I’ve heard is there is a team in Canadian Junior Hockey, the London Knights, that has a trademark on the name in Canada and isn’t about to let the NHL Vegas team use it. Rather than get into a squabble or pay them off, they decided to add the “Golden”.