Erie Storm rebanded as Erie Explosion

[CoasterLine]

The Erie Professional Indoor Football team rebranded last year from the RiverRats to the Storm, before a legal dispute with Lake Erie College (whose Athletics are branded as the Storm) got mad over "infringement" of their name (which in all actuality came from their inability to get on the first couple pages of Google, with the Erie Storm overtaking them in SEO), and formed a legal battle which resulted in forcing the Erie Storm to remove the name as of October 31st, 2010.

Since then, the team had been known as "Erie Professional Football," until the new team name, the Erie Explosion, was announced yesterday. The team is retaining the Black, Gold, and Dark Grey color scheme it had with the Storm, but just changing the name and logo...

Thoughts?

[north dakota]

Bad logo

[Seadragon76]

So let me this right?

A newbie Division II school (Which is Lake Erie) got pissed that their nickname wasn't on Google Search and an indoor football team (Erie Storm) does, so Lake Erie forces a legal battle to make the indoor football team change their name.

Wow... that's awfully petty for Lake Erie College to do that to this team. Yet, the name change and the logo just stinks. Could of been any way for the indoor football team to keep the Storm nickname at all?

[CoasterLine]

Not really. They had a valid legal case, which technically could have gone either way if taken out fully through the system, but it was in the best interest of EPF, Inc to just rebrand again, after only having the Storm name for under a season (at that point), mainly because of the low budget the football team is working with and also the fact that this could have drawn out further than they wished to fight for.

As of last year when they were going through the naming process of the Erie Storm, they had a "voting" for either the Storm, Blizzard, Pulse, or Punishers. Myself, I'm surprised they didn't go with Blizzard, or as I had suggested in the past the Erie Hazard (which could play off of the "winter storms" motif the area is known for, along with playing along with the history of Oliver Hazard Perry, who is noted with various feats during the War of 1812 inside of the Erie area)

This time around, the team has taken steps to register "Erie Explosion" as a trademarked entity, so a rename or issue will not occur from here on out...

[rams80]

So let me this right?

A newbie Division II school (Which is Lake Erie) got pissed that their nickname wasn't on Google Search and an indoor football team (Erie Storm) does, so Lake Erie forces a legal battle to make the indoor football team change their name.

Wow... that's awfully petty for Lake Erie College to do that to this team. Yet, the name change and the logo just stinks. Could of been any way for the indoor football team to keep the Storm nickname at all?

To be perfectly fair though, I would suggest the newbie Division II school is still higher on the food chain than a low rent fly by night indoor football team.

[hockey week]

that sucks! I've always really liked their logo, and I've been to their games. It always frustrated me that they never really embraced the brand, i expected at least a thunderclap on touchdowns or something. I hope this is just a stepping stone to a brand that they really milk for all its worth

Their old logo was awesome. It works really well locally, because that tower is a local landmark, marking the middle of the city as divided by State Street.

It completed my four rules of a great logo:

1) it tells you the nickname, the great background storm

2) it tells you the city, with the tower

3) it tells you the sport, with the almost tacked-on football (the weakest part of the logo, really)

4) it looks cool

[CoasterLine]

My frustration in the new logo is that it doesn't really yell to me anything about the team. Again the football looks tacked on there, and remove the text and you couldn't tell what city the logo was for, or what the team's nickname is.

I am looking forward to getting more information into the branding, as my company does the football teams website and web solutions... Hopefully I can give more insight into this rebrand.

[hockey week]

My frustration in the new logo is that it doesn't really yell to me anything about the team. Again the football looks tacked on there, and remove the text and you couldn't tell what city the logo was for, or what the team's nickname is.

I am looking forward to getting more information into the branding, as my company does the football teams website and web solutions... Hopefully I can give more insight into this rebrand.

that's awesome. I actually played under Coach Shawn Liotta in high school, so I was immediately pretty attached to the team. I hope they do well for themselves and really create a game-experience with whatever the brand is they go with. Keep us posted!

[Spearhead]

Awful.

[ManCalledAmp]

The Storm logo was very solid.

The new logo looks like it took five minutes to do, and doesn't actually convey an Explosion.

A...skipped rock? A burst? Maybe even a blast.

The text is rendered alright, but it should be centered with the explosion going off in all directions...comparable to the Spokane Shock logo IIRC.

[Gothamite]

The Erie Professional Indoor Football team rebranded last year from the RiverRats to the Storm, before a legal dispute with Lake Erie College (whose Athletics are branded as the Storm) got mad over "infringement" of their name (which in all actuality came from their inability to get on the first couple pages of Google, with the Erie Storm overtaking them in SEO), and formed a legal battle which resulted in forcing the Erie Storm to remove the name as of October 31st, 2010.

Wait, why shouldn't Lake Erie College defend their name? How is this not "infringment?" Provided they had registered the name, they have a duty to defend that mark. The indoor football team should have done its research before "borrowing" it.

[Burmy]

The Erie Professional Indoor Football team rebranded last year from the RiverRats to the Storm, before a legal dispute with Lake Erie College (whose Athletics are branded as the Storm) got mad over "infringement" of their name (which in all actuality came from their inability to get on the first couple pages of Google, with the Erie Storm overtaking them in SEO), and formed a legal battle which resulted in forcing the Erie Storm to remove the name as of October 31st, 2010.

Wait, why shouldn't Lake Erie College defend their name? How is this not "infringment?" Provided they had registered the name, they have a duty to defend that mark. The indoor football team should have done its research before "borrowing" it.

When LEC complains about the AFL's Tampa Bay team and the IFL's Sioux Falls team, then I can consider it.

[RuffDawg]

The Erie Professional Indoor Football team rebranded last year from the RiverRats to the Storm, before a legal dispute with Lake Erie College (whose Athletics are branded as the Storm) got mad over "infringement" of their name (which in all actuality came from their inability to get on the first couple pages of Google, with the Erie Storm overtaking them in SEO), and formed a legal battle which resulted in forcing the Erie Storm to remove the name as of October 31st, 2010.

Wait, why shouldn't Lake Erie College defend their name? How is this not "infringment?" Provided they had registered the name, they have a duty to defend that mark. The indoor football team should have done its research before "borrowing" it.

When LEC complains about the AFL's Tampa Bay team and the IFL's Sioux Falls team, then I can consider it.

I think it's more to do with the words "Erie" and "Storm" being in the one team name than just the "Storm" nickname itself. "Erie Storm" could very easily be confused for "Lake Erie Storm" if someone not familiar with the area thought the "Erie" referred to the lake and not the city in Pennsylvania. I think LEC had every right to make an issue out of this.

[BrianVlietDesign]

I like the new name, but the logo is just God awful. It'll make it 10x more enjoyable when the Raiders manhandle them.

[omnivore]

Prefer the old Storm look, but maybe this was a quicky setup to get them going before their season? Or some other reason?

[CoasterLine]

According to the marketing firm, this has been in the works since September.

[CS85]

The Erie Professional Indoor Football team rebranded last year from the RiverRats to the Storm, before a legal dispute with Lake Erie College (whose Athletics are branded as the Storm) got mad over "infringement" of their name (which in all actuality came from their inability to get on the first couple pages of Google, with the Erie Storm overtaking them in SEO), and formed a legal battle which resulted in forcing the Erie Storm to remove the name as of October 31st, 2010.

Since then, the team had been known as "Erie Professional Football," until the new team name, the Erie Explosion, was announced yesterday. The team is retaining the Black, Gold, and Dark Grey color scheme it had with the Storm, but just changing the name and logo...

Thoughts?

LOOK AWAY

[Gothamite]

When LEC complains about the AFL's Tampa Bay team and the IFL's Sioux Falls team, then I can consider it.

I think it's more to do with the words "Erie" and "Storm" being in the one team name than just the "Storm" nickname itself. "Erie Storm" could very easily be confused for "Lake Erie Storm" if someone not familiar with the area thought the "Erie" referred to the lake and not the city in Pennsylvania. I think LEC had every right to make an issue out of this.

Exactly. The problem isn't "Storm" itself (as evidenced by the other teams you mentioned, which LEC has taken no action against), but "Erie" and "Storm" together. Seems more than reasonable.

[BrandMooreArt]

this looks like some bad student work, which is probably still too much of a compliment. maybe more like someones intern who has an interest in logos and a pirated version of AI said "i can make a logo for you and have it done by the end of the day"

[JayJaxon]

It looks like the owner's cousin's son did it. Too bad. I liked the old one better.