New Orleans Hornets Will Rebrand as Pelicans in Time for 2013-2014 NBA Season

[bosrs1]

Pelicans is a decent if not typical name. But the great thing is the news this may lead to Charlotte getting the Hornets name back. The Bobcats were always a pitiful name with a terrible uniform and color scheme. Better to return to the city's original and far more popular name. It's worked for the Jets, don't see why it wouldn't work in Charlotte too. As for "franchise confusion", it's only confusing for those not paying attention. Plus it's not like the same thing hasn't been going on since the 60's anyway with the Senators 2.0.

[IceCap]

I think I'm with Roman. And not just because I love the idea of a pelican dribbling.

What about a logo that uses a pelican the same way the current Hornets logo uses a hornet? Kind of a nod to their past.

[Silver_Star]

I did a very rough recolor of the Katrina patch from '06 using the exact colors from the flag. If done right, a pelican logo could look great.

Maybe a little less "detail" and that's a sweet logo.

What kind of team name is called Pelicans? Come on, this is either stupid or just plain crazy!!!

[Silver_Star]

Done.

This logo is stupid!!! Why don't we call them Showboats! Or something like New Orleans Gigglos...

[McCall]

Done.

This logo is stupid!!! Why don't we call them Showboats! Or something like New Orleans Gigglos...

Why don't you go live under a bridge with the other trolls.

(See what I did there? That's what we call a "Lame joke".)

[illwauk]

This logo is stupid!!! Why don't we call them Showboats! Or something like New Orleans Gigglos...

Jackass noob is a jackass.

Logo is awesome, BTW.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

Love the name and love that logo. That screams New Orleans. The colors, if used properly, would be top-notch. My only issue, which is an issue with the Saints and Hornets, is that it doesnt sound nice. New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans Hornets. It's a double plural. As much as I hate singular team names, New Orleans is one city that could get away with it. It's why Jazz worked so well. (That's not a plug- Jazz belongs in Utah).

What about New Orleans Rhythm? I know it sounds WNBA-ish but it keeps with the music theme and rolls off the tongue.

All in all, I'm happy with it. Especially Hornets going back to Charlotte.

[Gothamite]

New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans Hornets. It's a double plural. As much as I hate singular team names, New Orleans is one city that could get away with it. It's why Jazz worked so well. (That's not a plug- Jazz belongs in Utah).

It's not a double plural. "Orleans" is singular - it's a plural noun following a city name ending in "s".

I don't think that's a big deal. "Indianapolis Colts" never bothered me. Neither does "Texas Rangers" nor any of the various "Los Angeles" clubs, just off the top of my head.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans Hornets. It's a double plural. As much as I hate singular team names, New Orleans is one city that could get away with it. It's why Jazz worked so well. (That's not a plug- Jazz belongs in Utah).

It's not a double plural. "Orleans" is singular - it's a plural noun following a city name ending in "s".

I don't think that's a big deal. "Indianapolis Colts" never bothered me. Neither does "Texas Rangers" nor any of the various "Los Angeles" clubs, just off the top of my head.

I suppose you're right. I think it's just that all the others (Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Texas), the ending is almost like a suffix, with a vowel and then an 'S', so it sounds OK. Orleans sounds plural. It's just a personal pet peeve.

[kw11333]

The NBA screwed it self up, by making so many teams keep their name upon relocation.

[BucWarrior]

Found Madri Gras version of the logo:

[tubby34]

is that the final logo?

[DustDevil61]

I think Pelicans is actually a pretty awesome name. For those of you feeling it's a little too "minor league"... you got used to the Pittsburgh Penguins, didn't you?

Good point.

I think Pelicans is a great name. "Major League" is what you make of it.

While I think that Pelicans isn't the best name, I wholeheartedly agree with this point. I'll be fine if the Hornets name goes back to Charlotte.

I think that the responses we have here are along the lines of "What if the Knicks/Giants*/Sox*/Mets/Browns^/Steelers/Maple Leafs/etc. were expansion teams with no prior history with the city?" I think that the Pelicans name will catch on in time, as long as the uniforms aren't designed with the latest trend in mind. Considering the last 2 major uniform changes--the Thunder and Nets--I'm confident that the New Orleans Pelicans can look great without being neither boring or overdone.

*Both the New York football and San Francisco baseball Giants, and Red and White varieties of Sox.

^Even though the current Browns team is basically an expansion team that began play in 1999, their previous history in Cleveland was the driving factor for the new team to adopt the Browns' colors, uniforms, and history.

[nuordr]

Done.

Conrad, get Tom Benson on the phone. This needs to happen.

This would jump to the top 5 for best logos in the league. Awesome job Conrad.

[B-Rich]

Okay, here's a local chiming in on this.

This "announcement" from Yahoo! Sports, quoting "sources", then picked up by ESPN and multiple other outlets, has all the look of a trial balloon "leaked" for an easy way to gauge public reaction. Sure, the change to this name has some legs, as (1) most importantly, Benson has stated that he would like to change the name to something more relevant, and that he was "working on it", and ( Benson ALREADY has the rights to the name "New Orleans Pelicans" from the days of 1992 when he bought the AA Charlotte Knights, planned to move them to New Orleans and re-name them the New Orleans Pelicans, but lost out to the Dikeous who moved the AAA Denver Zephyrs to New Orleans instead.

But I think the local public reaction-- which is definitely on the negative side; a cursory look at the board comments on local media outlet sites is running about 3 to 1 against the name-- will prevent this name from becoming a reality. Benson has not had any public "rename the team" publicity or involvement, just this repeated, yet vague notion that he wants to re-brand the team. He did a similar thing when he bought the Saints in the mid -eighties, mentioning the possibility of changing the colors (Benson was said to like blue) and possibly the name. Locals were outspoken in their desire to keep the name and colors, and what we got was the 1987 change to the unis with full time gold pants and the Louisiana state outline with fleur-de-lis sleeve patch and pants leg patch.

Going further back, as BlueSky noted (and I remember it well, too) the "fait acccompli" of naming the AAA team the Maskers was killed by public condemnation. That is some addtional local precedence.

So what I think is going on here is some shrewd (and cheap) marketing analysis.. "leak" a possibility for a new name and colors, see how the public reacts, then move forward accordingly while never acknowledging anything.

What do I think personally about the name and color scheme? Negative on both accounts. I think "New Orleans Pelicans" would be a great name... for a baseball or hockey team. Folks have posted on this board and others have mentioned about NBA names not needing to be "intimidating" or "fierce", giving examples of "Knickerbockers" "Nets", etc. OldSchoolVikings (backed up by Gothamite) broughgt up the Pittsburgh Penguins, which I'll go in on, and I'll raise you: Anaheim Ducks, formerly Atlanta Thrashers (essentially a variation on a mockingbird) and in baseball, Baltimore Orioles, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Bluejays, none of which are "birds of prey". Go into minor league ball and (somtimes historically) you get Canaries, Pheasant, Redbirds, and of course Pelicans.But those are baseball and hockey teams. Something feels right about their use in that context. Compare with the NFL, which while having its oldest team named the Cardinals (and originally being named for the color, not the bird), has the Eagles, the Falcons, the Seahawks and the Ravens. The NBA has the Hawks.

Again, time will tell, but I have a sneaky yet strong suspicion that the NBA "New Orleans Pelicans" will never come to fruition.... And if anyone wants a name swap, let's have Benson swap names with the AAA team, so the baseball team becomes the Pelicans, and the basketball team (in shades of NFL-like history of re-using earlier names like Titans or Texans) becomes the Zephyrs (a name with NBA history-- Chicago Zephyrs, 1962-63).

[BigStunna]

Crescents.

Fleur-de-C

Done

[Chawls]

Done.

Conrad, get Tom Benson on the phone. This needs to happen.

This would jump to the top 5 for best logos in the league. Awesome job Conrad.

You should've put a watermark. It's too good. Watch the internet explode with rumors of this being the real thing.

[truepg]

Actually, that pelican rendering is not-that-good. Not professional-level.

[GeauxColonels]

sorry to mislead, gentleman, but the logo i posted is from Scott Greci at Guru Design in New Orleans. and like Goth pointed out, it won't be used because it's already out there and they would never pay the guy who made it.

it's some sweet action though. top-shelf work.

Definitely. I went to high school with Scott. He made this design along with several others just after Benson purchased the team back in the Spring. The original color-scheme he used for this logo (and the others he made for the "New Orleans Bounce") was green, gold and purple. He then recolored this logo to red, black and gold per request from some other guys from a Hornets message board. Looks like he took one more step and used the colors Mrs. Benson mentioned recently.

Here's the "evolution" of the color scheme taken from the Facebook page he created for the design (https://www.facebook.com/neworleanspelicans?ref=stream#!/neworleanspelicans):

[seancarter]

don't know if rumors are true but I do hope the hornets are going to change their nickname to something more likable to city of New Orleans

Ps: here are some nicknames that New Orleans Hornets could use

New Orleans Jazz

New Orleans Brass

New Orleans Buccaneers