G-League Maine Red Claws Rebrand as Celtics

[Digby]

 

[DEAD!]

2 hours ago, Digby said:

 

The lobster used to be cooked.... now, it's mutated. 

[kimball]

3 hours ago, MDGP said:

 

"Brand Synergy" between major and minor league affiliates can right off. That's two teams this year alone that had their unique and fun branding ripped away (the other being the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers becoming the Bridgeport Islanders) so they could share a name.  Celtics doesn't make an ounce of sense for a team in Maine, a state in which Irish heritage and culture isn't exactly a big deal like in Boston. Red Claws acted both as a reference to the Celtics (Red Auerbach) and a strong tie-in to the local community,

 

 

I don't know ... I kinda like it?

 

Maine Celtics is much better than Bridgeport Islanders. And, at least the Maine Celtics logo is GOOD. 

[flyersfan]

In terms of brand synergy, I always liked the somewhat synergy of either a team name theme or colors translating. The Sound Tigers I always associated with NYI because of the colors, playing off the brand identity I like with the Philadelphia Phillies and Reading Fightin Phils. I'm not too big a fan of carbon copies though, and I imagine we see Celtics 2.0 unis on the Maine jerseys

[TaylorMade]

5 hours ago, Digby said:

 

 

The official league website right on top of things:

 

[TaylorMade]

4 hours ago, MDGP said:

 

"Brand Synergy" between major and minor league affiliates can right off. That's two teams this year alone that had their unique and fun branding ripped away (the other being the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers becoming the Bridgeport Islanders) so they could share a name.  Celtics doesn't make an ounce of sense for a team in Maine, a state in which Irish heritage and culture isn't exactly a big deal like in Boston. Red Claws acted both as a reference to the Celtics (Red Auerbach) and a strong tie-in to the local community,

 

 

Fully agreed. Instead of moving into a soccer style "Team Name 2" style, I'd rather see the GLeague adopt more of a minor league baseball style of totally off-the-wall and hyperlocal team names.

[Pharos04]

Just as the title says. The Red Claws have been rebranded as the Maine Celtics

 

 

https://www.wmtw.com/article/maine-red-claws-change-name-to-maine-celtics/36519342#
 

Old logo for comparison

 

Edit: Didn’t see it was being shown in the main NBA thread.  Mods please delete if you feel it’s redundant from the MegaThread

[ManillaToad]

so it's an Irish lobster?

[panthers_2012]

BOO. There goes another unique name.

[Brian in Boston]

On the plus side, given that living lobsters normally range from blackish green to greenish brown in color while alive, the crustacean in the team's logo is no longer a hue that would indicate said creature was dead as a result of having been cooked. 

[Brian in Boston]

11 hours ago, Digby said:

 

Well, given that living lobsters normally range from blackish green to greenish brown in color while alive, the crustacean in the team's logo is no longer a hue that would indicate said creature was dead as a result of having been cooked.  So, the new logo at least has that going for it.

[Brian in Boston]

11 hours ago, MDGP said:

Celtics doesn't make an ounce of sense for a team in Maine, a state in which Irish heritage and culture isn't exactly a big deal like in Boston. Red Claws acted both as a reference to the Celtics (Red Auerbach) and a strong tie-in to the local community.

While I'll grant you that the Red Claws moniker was a terrific tip of the cap to Auerbach and a direct reference to the importance of lobster fishing in coastal Maine, it isn't as if "Celtics doesn't make an ounce of sense for a team in" the state.

Persons of Irish ancestry account for 15% of Maine's population, exceeded only by those of English and French/French Canadian heritage (each boasting 23% of the populace). Portland - home to the NBA G League team in question - has had an Irish population since the early 1800s. My maternal granduncle's family helped establish Portland's St. Dominic's parish - a bastion of Irish heritage in the city - in 1833. Today, the second St. Dominic's Church building - constructed on the site of the first in 1893 to house a rapidly growing Hibernian community - serves as the Maine Irish Heritage Center.

In any event,  a better name for a Portland-based NBA G League team than either Red Claws or Celtics would have been a revival of the old Continental Basketball Association moniker Maine Windjammers. Create a logo depicting one of these majestic beauties:

 

Now that would make for a top-notch team identity!

      

[Wings]

Shouldn't the lobster be dressed as a leprechaun?

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

6 hours ago, panthers_2012 said:

BOO. There goes another unique name.

 

Yay! In comes another name that reflects the parent club.  

 

I am very pleased to see this trend in basketball and hockey, the most recent example being the AHL Bridgeport (some embarrassing nonsense) becoming the Bridgeport Islanders.

 

There is a little bit of this desirable development in baseball (e.g., the Syracuse Mets); but there are also teams going in the wrong direction (e.g., the former Omaha Royals).

 

The Durham Bulls and the Rochester Red Wings of the world are very, very few. Notwithstanding some rare exceptions, a minor-league team should be named after its parent club.

 

And even a minor-league team with a unique name should always resemble its parent club as closely as possible, as the Buffalo Bisons have done with uniforms patterned upon those of the Cleveland Indians, the Chicago White Sox, and the Toronto Blue Jays, depending upon the Bisons' affiliation.

[MDGP]

1 hour ago, Brian in Boston said:

While I'll grant you that the Red Claws moniker was a terrific tip of the cap to Auerbach and a direct reference to the importance of lobster fishing in coastal Maine, it isn't as if "Celtics doesn't make an ounce of sense for a team in" the state.

Persons of Irish ancestry account for 15% of Maine's population, exceeded only by those of English and French/French Canadian heritage (each boasting 23% of the populace). Portland - home to the NBA G League team in question - has had an Irish population since the early 1800s. My maternal granduncle's family helped establish Portland's St. Dominic's parish - a bastion of Irish heritage in the city - in 1833. Today, the second St. Dominic's Church building - constructed on the site of the first in 1893 to house a rapidly growing Hibernian community - serves as the Maine Irish Heritage Center.

In any event,  a better name for a Portland-based NBA G League team than either Red Claws or Celtics would have been a revival of the old Continental Basketball Association moniker Maine Windjammers. Create a logo depicting one of these majestic beauties:

 

Now that would make for a top-notch team identity!

      

 

Yeah, "wouldn't make an ounce of sense" was an exaggeration. There's certainly Irish influence, but English and French have both, at least to me, appeared to have considerably more cultural influences. Though, a big part of the french influence is the Quebecois proximity and spending the summers of my youth overrun by their vacationers. If someone asked me to describe Portland, I almost certainly wouldn't go in that direction in my first few answers, whereas Boston by comparison, I'd be more likely to mention the Irish Heritage (Though, part of that might be the fact that the hockey east finals regularly are played on St. Patrick's day so I was in the city a bunch for that). And to be perfectly honest I'll hate any name for a Portland team that isn't nautical. If anything is Portland's identity its the ocean, and Windjammers would fit that perfectly.

 

 

 

The more I've thought about the name change, I think the best way to describe how much I hate it is by comparing it to the Sea Dogs. They wear red and blue and basically wear a Red Sox jersey and very clearly are a Red Sox affiliate. It would absolutely destroy an extremely unique and fun brand if they decided that for BUSINESS TM they needed to change to the Portland Red Sox. This is exactly the Celtics' mindset and I despise that they made that move.

[MilSox]

I don't mind minor league clubs taking on a bit of the parent clubs identity when they play in the parent clubs market. This is a near perfect adaptation IMO.

[Digby]

The Celtics took their name from the old New York team pre-BAA, is what I’ve always heard, so not sure how relevant the Irishness of Boston or Portland is. Plus that’s the line of thought that got us those abominable Irish pub jerseys last year.

 

The demographics of modern Portland (ME) are 75% Boston-area affluent expats these days, anyway. 
 

I don’t really understand the bend back toward minor league teams that just take the parent club identity. The old Red Claws had that unique, local identity mixed with plenty of Celtics clues, including that Maine wordmark. What is gained by this? Any Red Claws fan is already awfully likely to have picked up the Celtics as their NBA level team anyway, and I think that’s true of most minor league affiliates. Maybe once upon a time that was a useful way for top level teams to establish a beachhead and expand their market, but I question how useful that is in the internet and League Pass era.

[dont care]

18 minutes ago, Digby said:

The Celtics took their name from the old New York team pre-BAA, is what I’ve always heard, so not sure how relevant the Irishness of Boston or Portland is. Plus that’s the line of thought that got us those abominable Irish pub jerseys last year.

 

The demographics of modern Portland (ME) are 75% Boston-area affluent expats these days, anyway. 
 

I don’t really understand the bend back toward minor league teams that just take the parent club identity. The old Red Claws had that unique, local identity mixed with plenty of Celtics clues, including that Maine wordmark. What is gained by this? Any Red Claws fan is already awfully likely to have picked up the Celtics as their NBA level team anyway, and I think that’s true of most minor league affiliates. Maybe once upon a time that was a useful way for top level teams to establish a beachhead and expand their market, but I question how useful that is in the internet and League Pass era.

Boston has a huge Irish population, I don’t know exact demographics but south Boston’s population is pretty near 95% Irish or Italian. 

[monkeypower]

18 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

On the plus side, given that living lobsters normally range from blackish green to greenish brown in color while alive, the crustacean in the team's logo is no longer a hue that would indicate said creature was dead as a result of having been cooked. 

 

That's what I was going to say. It's a lobster logo that doesn't imply the mascot is dead. It's a first.

 

I am surprised that the lobster isn't wearing the hat from the Celtics logo.

[BeerGuyJordan]

I came in here expecting to just see a regurgitation of the Celtics brand replacing a serviceable minor league identity. While I'm not thrilled about the name being gone, I have to say I actually like the identity, and I love the logo. If we're ranking G-League identities (which are pretty subpar, even for a minor league), I'd put this up with the Go-Go.