Cities having one team name for every sport

[_RH_]

It's probably a good point about financial reasons for different colors/logos. Why sell 1 shirt when you can sell 4?

I would prefer the same name/colors, but maybe at least have a theme. I think Kansas City has/had (at least partially) a cool theme of leaders (Royals, Chiefs, Kings, and maybe you could even count Wizards?)

[phutmasterflex]

Your idea will never happen just because of money and lost marketing opportunities. What if the Toronto Raptors (basketball) start sucking real bad and the Toronto Raptors (baseball) doesn't want their name to be associated with poor play? Hurts the brand

What do you mean IF?

More aptly, what do you mean START?

Got me there. But you see my point though, right?

[BrandMooreArt]

sounds like the worst branding decision ever

[narthuro]

The idea of taking the baseball team's name also happened in early American soccer, where New York had the Giants, Yankees and Dodgers at one point or another. The New York Americans existed in hockey (1925-42), soccer (1931-56), and football (1940).

It makes sense in European sports, where a lot of clubs in places like Greece started as all-sport organizations. There, you can play off the popularity of a sport like soccer and transfer it to other sports like basketball or hockey or volleyball or water polo. I suppose that was also the rationale of those early American sports teams, in sports where a popular team was already there and there wasn't nearly as much disposable income or leisure time as there is today.

[TheFuture]

Based solely on the dominant team or the most fitting name in each market, I would go with:

NY Yankees--The dominant icon of NY is the NY Yankees logo.

Chicago Bulls--A tough call with the Bears, but Bulls makes sense for the livestock trade in Chicago

LA Dodgers--Angels makes more sense, Lakers is not a logical fit despite popularity, but Dodgers is the most traditional.

SF 49ers--Gold Rush is a natural fit.

Miami Dolphins--The most "Miami" of all the teams.

Milwaukee (GB) Brewers-- Brewing industry is huge.

Pittsburgh Steelers--most appropriate

Philadelphia Eagles--Ties in with historical Philly

Washington Capitals--not the most popular team, but the most logical name

Dallas Cowboys--Duh

Houston Astros--So as not to repeat the cowboy theme with the Texans, Rockets could work too.

Phoenix Suns

Seattle Seahawks

Minnesota Twins--though Vikings also has good cultural links.

New England or Boston Patriots

Denver Broncos

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Atlanta Braves--A tough call, but it is the only non-bird name.

Indiana Pacers

Cleveland Indians--Browns a close second, but with no visual identity, I have to go Indians.

Detroit Pistons--Makes the most sense.

San Diego Padres

Good list, but I'd have to disagree with a few:

New York-I think either Mets or Knicks would be more appropriate for New York. You can still use the Yankees' logo for the city though (the OP didn't say you had to take the logo along with the name and colors).

Philadelphia-Eagles is probably the last name I'd choose. Phillies and 76ers would be better choices (I'd give the nod to the Sixers), and the Flyers would do for the logo.

Denver-I'd go with Rockies, since Denver is located in the Rocky Mountains. Avalanche and Nuggets work better too.

Dallas-Not really a disagreement, but Mavericks and Rangers are good fits too. All three names could represent Dallas.

Tampa Bay-I'd go with Rays. The sailors who became known as buccaneers were more known for their conquests in the Caribbean rather than the Florida coast. Meanwhile, rays tie in better with the aquatic life in Tampa.

Now, allow me to add a few more to the list:

New Orleans Saints

Oakland Raiders (slight edge over Warriors and A's)

Toronto Maple Leafs

Baltimore Orioles

Kansas City Royals

Cincinnati Reds

St. Louis Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

[Jer15]

^ I'd have to say Toronto Argonaughts for all the Toronto teams then as they've been around longer.

Personally I'd just call it Toronto Athletic though.

But I'd think that if you were going down this naming route you'd see more names like you see in Europe.

For example, Real Madrid and CSKA (just 2 off the top of my head) compete in both basketball and soccer.

[bulldogbarks55]

I'd love for the Blue Jays to be the Maple Leafs. And in 1946 Buffalo's three teams were all named Bisons. All-America Football Conference, International League baseball and American Hockey League. The football team became the Bills in 1947. The baseball and hockey teams continued until 1970 when the hockey team folded for the NHL Sabres and the baseball team moved to Winnipeg in mid-season. The baseball name was revived in 1977.

[Silent Wind of Doom]

There are many things that keep this idea from happening (merchandising, getting the owners to agree, attached history, confusion, etc), but it's an interesting thought experiment. For cities with numerous teams in the same sports, more than one name will be needed.

New York Yankees (Yankees, Giants, Rangers, Nets) - Most historic still-present name in the city that has had numerous imitators.

New York Mets (Mets, Jets, Islanders, Knicks) - Name and colors fit perfectly for the city, and their name has also been mimicked. Put the Knicks here so they could retain their colors.

Boston - Too tough. Patriots fits well, but Red Sox is by far the most powerful and iconic franchise.

Los Angeles Dodgers (Dodgers, Clippers) - Legendary name

Los Angeles Angels (Angels, Lakers, Kings) - Most fitting name for LA

San Francisco Giants (Giants, 49ers) - 49ers fits well, but the huge amount of history behind the Giants brand is really tough to pass up.

Oakland - How do you pick between two of the most striking and historical identities in sports in the Athletics and Raiders?!

Dallas Cowboys

Houston Astros

Washington Nationals - Makes sense, has history, and I think it sounds better as a name for a person than "Capital" I think.

[chakfu]

Boston - Too tough. Patriots fits well, but Red Sox is by far the most powerful and iconic franchise.

What about the one with 17 titles? Of course I'm biased as a non-Bostonian Celtics fanatic, Red Sox disliker, and Patriots tolerater...

[hockey week]

I hate this idea. It's so confusing dealing with European hockey teams who have much better-known soccer clubs of the same name.

I'm all for city-pride. Every city should work towards having the same or similar color schemes, but the same names? That's thoroughly confusing, and horrible for marketing.

Even when this was possible, it was bad. I've done plenty of research on the Pittsburgh Pirates hockey team, and it was exceptionally difficult to do because the baseball team so out-shined the hockey team. Even with google, it's terribly difficult to find more than the average stuff. I'm wondering what I'm missing because I'm not sifting through thousands of baseball images. Imagine that problem today. It would make things terribly difficult for an increasingly lazy audience.

[chakfu]

Based solely on the dominant team or the most fitting name in each market, I would go with:

Cleveland Indians--Browns a close second, but with no visual identity, I have to go Indians.

Detroit Pistons--Makes the most sense.

Gotta go with the Browns - they may have been bad for a while now, but the Jim Brown and Otto Graham eras qualify them as a historic and iconic team. Despite the Indians long history - they're really a pretty generic and forgettable franchise (even though they happen to be my favorite.)

[Rayman]

Though like everyone is saying this will never happen but it still is a very interesting idea.

I hope someone who had time can come up with very quick concepts for this idea. Preferably New York!

[jhans203]

The more I think about it, the more I wish that the Hornets went with Saints instead of Pelicans. I like the idea of the New Orleans Football Saints and New Orleans Basketball Saints.

[New_Member]

NY gotta be the 'Bockers.

[jhans203]

Here's a list for lists sake. These are names I'd love to see adopted from other market teams ...

1. New Orleans Saints (NBA)

2. Toronto Maple Leafs (MLB)

3. Arizona Cardinals (NHL)

4. Cleveland Browns (MLB)

5. Washington Capitals or Nationals (NBA)

Food for thought ...

[cmm]

I don't like when teams share names, but I like when a city's teams have related names. Some are planned (NY Mets-Jets-Nets-Sets from team tennis; the Chicago Bears are a fiercer version of baseball's Cubs), others aren't (Atlanta Falcons-Hawks-Thrashers, all birds except the Braves).

[JackieMoon]

Cincinnati use to have a NFL team in the 30's called the Reds.

[illwauk]

Not sure if this is the same thing, but a lot of pro teams have simply used their states' nickname, thereby adopting the same name as a local university. The NFL had Milwaukee Badgers and Detroit Wolverines, the Federal League had Baltimore Terrapins, and Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati have all had baseball teams known as the Buckeyes.

[whateverman42]

I don't like when teams share names, but I like when a city's teams have related names. Some are planned (NY Mets-Jets-Nets-Sets from team tennis; the Chicago Bears are a fiercer version of baseball's Cubs), others aren't (Atlanta Falcons-Hawks-Thrashers, all birds except the Braves).

I like this idea too, though it can be limiting. Maybe the best option in terms of grouping together a city's teams in some form would be to have the same colour scheme. Pittsburgh has this, I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, but the Penguins, Pirates, and Steelers are all mainly yellow and black. And they have room for some differentiation as the Penguins sneak a bit of blue in there sometimes, the Pirates incorporate some red, and the Steelers have the red and blue in their logo. Toronto is pretty much the blue city, and I wouldn't mind if TFC and the Raptors changed their scheme from red to blue to fit in. Even further the Raptors should change their name to the Huskies when adopting blue. I actually like the name of the Raptors, but it doesn't fit Toronto at all, maybe if Calgary ever got a team they can use a dino name.

[PhlyBoy]

Just name every team in every sport the Roughriders. Maybe sprinkle in a few Rough Riders just to spruce it up.