Pro teams in need of a rebrand

[AnPheitseog]

Bills aren't in Buffalo either, they are in Orchard Park.

I'll give you that, but at least they play in Erie County, rather than a different county(Orange, in the case of the Angels), or state(Giants/jets)

[Norva]

Those are completely arbitrary boundaries though. Metlife Stadium is closer to NYC than Orchard Park is to Buffalo.

[KUWarhawk]

In MLB, I'd say the Rockies, Diamondbacks, Padres, Brewers, Marlins, Indians, Twins, Royals, and Rays could all use a rebrand. The Reds would do well to get rid of black, but I don't think they need a full rebrand.

Just curious what do you think is wrong with the Royals?

[DCarp1231]

Bills aren't in Buffalo either, they are in Orchard Park.

I'll give you that, but at least they play in Erie County, rather than a different county(Orange, in the case of the Angels), or state(Giants/jets)

Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington, Tampa Bay Rays play in St. Petersburg, I'm sure there's more professional teams like this... I would assume teams play/have stadiums, wherever it's the cheapest without going too far away from their given city name

[IceCap]

It failed spectacularly. As far as "Euro brands" go? MLS' branding success has increased significantly since they began to use European-style names that soccer fans accept as sounding "professional." The league almost went under when they tried to tailor the game to North American sensibilities. Since they've gone with their current direction? They've been successful.

Like it or not, the European branding has proven to be a huge success.

Couldn't disagree more. You should go to places like Portland, Seattle, and here in Vancouver where the fans absolutely love their teams and the history that goes back to the NASL era. The LA Galaxy(no NASL ties) have done very nicely both on and off the field.

The main reason why MLS is doing well is because of most teams playing in soccer-specific stadiums. The opening festivities before each game with teams walking out of the tunnels with youth teams is a soccer tradition. Supporters groups like Portland's Timbers Army, Seattle's Emerald City Supporters and the Vancouver Southsiders, which I'm proudly a member of, rank as among the very best in MLS.

The NASL was a success in a number of markets. The reasons why the league fell apart was because of over expansion, not having a salary cap and having teams play in huge football stadiums without the thought of configuring the seating to make attending games more intimate. Playing indoors during the winter didn't help matters either. Not because of team names.

"Tailoring the game to North American sensibilities" is an example of condescending British "Football" snobbishness. I will take my Vancouver Whitecaps FC any day over the likes of "Vancouver FC" or "Van City United". This isn't Europe and we have other major pro sports.

Soccer is soccer and fans who enjoy the Beautiful Game will come out to watch.

Cheers and Merry Christmas.

Happy Chanukah.

[BrandMooreArt]

i'll just stick to football

Baltimore Ravens - the name is great and the color can stay purple, black, and gold but i would like to see them use a unique gold like "old gold". everything else needs a lot of work. i would go in a completely different direction than a Raven head for a logo

Washington - obviously

Carolina Panthers - the logo is embarrassingly bad, the wordmark average, and the uniform stripes are dated; they dont work well on modern templates. i'd like to see them move to a black helmet and play that up a bit more to separate themselves from the Lions.

Jacksonville Jaguars - i'd keep the color palette, name, and change everything else dramatically. it's just ugly

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - keep name and colors, but go back to the previous pewter, or something close to it. the large helmet logo works great but the logo itself is weak. i wont even speak of the uniforms

Miami Dolphins - beautiful colors and thats it. i'd even consider changing the team name. football is a game played by very large grown men that try to destroy each other every play. a dolphin is a weak mascot

KC Chiefs - im going to go ahead and say it, i dont like the fan culture a Native American mascot breeds. people in war bonnets and doing the tomahawk chop and singing the war chant. it's worse than the Washington name.

there are other teams where i would change a color, a logo, or uniform but wouldn't say they need to be "re-branded".

[VancouverFan69]

And both the Giants and Jets play in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

[Cosmic]

Those are completely arbitrary boundaries though. Metlife Stadium is closer to NYC than Orchard Park is to Buffalo.

I'm pretty sure Manhattan to New Jersey has more significance than Buffalo to one of its suburbs two miles down the road.

[AnPheitseog]

Bills aren't in Buffalo either, they are in Orchard Park.

I'll give you that, but at least they play in Erie County, rather than a different county(Orange, in the case of the Angels), or state(Giants/jets)

Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington, Tampa Bay Rays play in St. Petersburg, I'm sure there's more professional teams like this... I would assume teams play/have stadiums, wherever it's the cheapest without going too far away from their given city name

St. Petersburg is in Tampa Bay, even though it isnt in Tampa

[DCarp1231]

Bills aren't in Buffalo either, they are in Orchard Park.

I'll give you that, but at least they play in Erie County, rather than a different county(Orange, in the case of the Angels), or state(Giants/jets)

Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington, Tampa Bay Rays play in St. Petersburg, I'm sure there's more professional teams like this... I would assume teams play/have stadiums, wherever it's the cheapest without going too far away from their given city name

St. Petersburg is in Tampa Bay, even though it isnt in Tampa

you get my point

[Norva]

Those are completely arbitrary boundaries though. Metlife Stadium is closer to NYC than Orchard Park is to Buffalo.

I'm pretty sure Manhattan to New Jersey has more significance than Buffalo to one of its suburbs two miles down the road.

Buffalo to Orchard Park is a good 10-20 miles or so. Yeah, not much. But still, I seriously doubt there is that much of a culture divide between the couple of miles between East Rutherford, NJ and NYC. Like I said, state lines are completely arbitrary. Just like the Bills are in the Buffalo metro area so are the Jets/Giants to NYC. The only difference is that metro area has an invisible line through it.

[WSU151]

Bills aren't in Buffalo either, they are in Orchard Park.

I'll give you that, but at least they play in Erie County, rather than a different county(Orange, in the case of the Angels), or state(Giants/jets)

Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington, Tampa Bay Rays play in St. Petersburg, I'm sure there's more professional teams like this... I would assume teams play/have stadiums, wherever it's the cheapest without going too far away from their given city name

The Santa Clara 49ers come to mind.

[IceCap]

Bills aren't in Buffalo either, they are in Orchard Park.

I'll give you that, but at least they play in Erie County, rather than a different county(Orange, in the case of the Angels), or state(Giants/jets)

Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington, Tampa Bay Rays play in St. Petersburg, I'm sure there's more professional teams like this... I would assume teams play/have stadiums, wherever it's the cheapest without going too far away from their given city name

St. Petersburg is in Tampa Bay, even though it isnt in Tampa

you get my point

Not really. St. Petersburg is part of an area called Tampa Bay. The Rays' name is entirely consistent with their location.

[Cosmic]

Those are completely arbitrary boundaries though. Metlife Stadium is closer to NYC than Orchard Park is to Buffalo.

I'm pretty sure Manhattan to New Jersey has more significance than Buffalo to one of its suburbs two miles down the road.

Buffalo to Orchard Park is a good 10-20 miles or so. Yeah, not much. But still, I seriously doubt there is that much of a culture divide between the couple of miles between East Rutherford, NJ and NYC. Like I said, state lines are completely arbitrary. Just like the Bills are in the Buffalo metro area so are the Jets/Giants to NYC. The only difference is that metro area has an invisible line through it.

I didn't pull that number out of my ass... it's literally less than two miles from the OP border to the Buffalo border. It's about six miles from the Bills' current stadium to the Sabres' arena in the heart of downtown.

[BrandMooreArt]

this location thing is odd to me. i dont see whats wrong with claiming the nearest major city as your home.

[Gothamite]

Neither do I. If you're in its metro area, that's good enough.

[Burmy]

KC Chiefs - im going to go ahead and say it, i dont like the fan culture a Native American mascot breeds. people in war bonnets and doing the tomahawk chop and singing the war chant. it's worse than the Washington name.

"Chief" just means "the boss, the leader, the top guy"...no problem with the name.

If they have to change the design, I say they go with a police/fire theme...

[tBBP]

Those are completely arbitrary boundaries though. Metlife Stadium is closer to NYC than Orchard Park is to Buffalo.

I'm pretty sure Manhattan to New Jersey has more significance than Buffalo to one of its suburbs two miles down the road.

Buffalo to Orchard Park is a good 10-20 miles or so. Yeah, not much. But still, I seriously doubt there is that much of a culture divide between the couple of miles between East Rutherford, NJ and NYC. Like I said, state lines are completely arbitrary. Just like the Bills are in the Buffalo metro area so are the Jets/Giants to NYC. The only difference is that metro area has an invisible line through it.

I didn't pull that number out of my ass... it's literally less than two miles from the OP border to the Buffalo border. It's about six miles from the Bills' current stadium to the Sabres' arena in the heart of downtown.

Let's revisit this if/once that new stadium goes up in Batavia.....

[illwauk]

Neither do I. If you're in its metro area, that's good enough.

this location thing is odd to me. i dont see whats wrong with claiming the nearest major city as your home.

To me it's more about cultural differences between the areas than anything. Sprawling sunbelt cities tend to have much fewer cultural differences with their suburbs than cities in the Northeast and Midwest. Even though the Lakeshore Chinooks are supposed to represent Milwaukee in the Northwoods League, I wouldn't want them to identify as the Milwaukee Chinooks because they play in Mequon, which may as well be on Mars with how little it has in common with Milwaukee.

The Giants and Jets are an interesting scenario because I doubt East Rutherford has a cultural identity as anything but "that place where the stadiums are." But I would venture to guess it has more in common with Jersey City, a city on its own merit, than any of the five boroughs.

[Gothamite]

Many suburbs have little in common with their magnet cities. That doesn't mean they're somehow magically not suburbs, though.