Marketing is also the reason the Panthers picked a South Carolina location for their training facility. They need to appeal to both states to have an adequate fan base.
Re the Arizona Cardinals, wasn’t that name an attempt to avoid stirring up the Phoenix-Tucson rivalry, and get in better grace with the latter?
Crystal Palace F.C. was formed by men who worked at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park.
Two other British teams not playing where their name says are the rubgy teams London Wasps and London Irish playing in High Wycombe and Reading respectively.
ElvisL1ves:
Is this sarcastic, or does Tucson seriously consider itself to have some sort of rivalry with Phoenix? I mean, Minneapolis-St Paul, I get - once they were pretty close in size, and anyway, even though Minneapolis is bigger, St Paul is the state capital, so has some claim on greater importance. Memphis-Nashville, I can imagine. Tucson-Phoenix, which is the state capital AND largest metro area by an insane amount?
:shrug:
Seems to be mainly a college thing rather than a civic pride rivalry. But it’s certainly something.
The Memphis Grizzlies were the Vancouver Grizzlies during its inception and moved to Memphis about 10 years ago. The name was to be changed to The Express for Federal Express, which is based in the city. However, the NBA disallowed the name under a rule that a name cannot advertise.
The name Memphis Grizzlies stuck because there was a early 1970’s pro football team from the now defunct World Football League (WFL) with the same name. The team had some success, after the WFL folded, Memphis tried to get the Grizzlies as an expansion franchise (and even had a telethon) but was turned down by the NFL. Memphis in the 1980’s got a USFL team, with the awful name of The Showboats. Football names are supposed to be tough, not the name of off Broadway musical. But to be fair, the organization allowed the general public to vote on what name they would like.
Memphis tried and failed to get an NFL team the year that Charlotte and Jacksonville were picked. The name of Memphis’ team would have been The Hound Dogs, in honor of Elvis. Several years later, the Houston Oilers moved to Nashville, but arranged for the team to spend two years in Memphis at the 62,000 seat Liberty Bowl. Well, Memphians did not go to the game, or some went to cheer for the other team that they followed.
Memphis and Nashville have always had a rivalry, with Nashville always a bit better than Memphis, or that it seems. Nashville ended up with Memphis’ football team and Memphis people weren’t going to support having them play here and then leave. Funk that. After a year of high school like attendance, Bud moved the Oilers to Nashville to play at Vandy stadium.
I guess that there are a few Memphis season ticket holders for the Titans, but I would guess that most of the fanbase is in Nashville and the nearby area. Memphis news only really gives them minimal coverage. Funny thing is, if the Titans made a serious run at the Superbowl and made the game, there would be an uptick on the sale of gear and excitement about it. Very fair weather fans.
Memphis is a “basketball” town and has finally embraced the Grizzlies, and they did kick some ass and won 7 playoff games (and especially kicked the Spurs’ ass, which to me is their biggest rival). This is Memphis’ team, not Tennessee or Nashville’s team.
Knoxville, the largest city to the east of Nashville has the Volunteers (who suck orange ass this year) in a monster stadium that holds about 100,000 people. Besides (well, before UT sucked) watching the Vols and Bama play is just as good as an NFL game would be. if I lived in Memphis and wanted to see the Titans play, I would have to have off work on Monday morning. It’s three hours there and three hours back of some of the most mind numbing driving imaginable.
Memphis’ pro baseball team is the St. Louis Cardinals, Memphis has their AAA team, and they have been a successful franchise and have won the AAA championship several years ago. I think that the Cardinals of Arizona probably should have chosen a different name. To me, Cardinals is a St. Louis symbol, and it would seem to me that a team relocating should have a new name and a new identity. Same with the Utah Jazz. As a matter of fact, the Salt Lake team should be called the hornets because of Mormons and their love of bees and New Orleans retaining the Jazz name.
The NFL Cardinals did start in Chicago, not as a football venture of the St. Louis baseball team’s owners. That said, of all the many states which have the cardinal as their state bird, Arizona is not one. The team should be the Thunderbirds.