Rebranding Name Games: A Double Standard?

[Mac the Knife]

To add to the debate that's been going on here with respect to the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans, Sacramento Kings/Seattle SuperSonics, and Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets rebranding announcements or possibilities in the NBA, I thought I'd point out that we seem to want to employ a double standard in this regard, depending on whether a team's "major league" or "minor league."

Case in point - five different franchises in the Pacific Coast League (AAA level baseball - a number that represents nearly one-third of the league's total current membership) have, at one point or another, played in Portland, Oregon, as the Portland Beavers. The Durham Bulls, meanwhile, have had several incarnations at various levels of professional baseball (A and AAA being the most recent), and their cross-region counterpart Carolina Mudcats have (A, then AA, then back to A ball starting this year) as well. Yet in almost all these cases, there's a standard - the team currently in the city inherits the legacies of its predecessors. A change in team name without a relocation, however, seems to have no impact.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, nor is it universally applied throughout, but it's interesting that while minor league baseball (for the most part) has applied a precedent with respect to how rebranding has an impact on its record books, others haven't.