A press conference isn’t scheduled to begin for about an hour in New Orleans, but the reason for it — a new logo and name for New Orleans’ NBA franchise — may have already been leaked, with the above logo being the real thing. While there have been dozens of fan-designed logos popping up online since Yahoo Sports reported in late December that a name-change was imminent, how many of those logos match what looks to be a legitimate launch video that has been leaked? As best I can tell, this is a video made for today’s release of the New Orleans Pelicans logo and name, complete with a backstory, interviews with owner Tom Benson and other Crescent City dignitaries. The logo comes at the very end of the nearly 5-minute video (which is, sadly, unembeddable), and comes by way of Chris Creamer at SportsLogos.net.
Video announcing the new New Orleans Pelicans logo RT @cdixondesign Pelican’s reveal video has been leaked as well: ht-mobile.cdn.turner.com/nba/big/teams/…
— Chris Creamer (@sportslogosnet) January 24, 2013
News of a name change in New Orleans from the Hornets to the Pelicans has triggered talks in Charlotte to reclaim the “Hornets” name for the city that originally was the birthplace of the Hornets franchise. The Charlotte Bobcats, named in part because of their former, founding owner, Bob Johnson, are already doing market research to test whether taking back the Hornets name would be accepted by local fans, according to the Charlotte Observer.
The Observer obtained a copy of the survey Harris emailed to various Bobcats season-ticket holders Wednesday. The electronic survey takes about 30 minutes to fill out, and asks all sorts of questions about the Bobcats, the Hornets and the general perception of what would sell more game tickets and team gear.
One question, about halfway through Harris’ survey, is the crux of the issue:
“If the Bobcats were to change their nickname to the ‘Hornets,’ would you attend more games than you currently do, attend fewer games, or attend about the same amount?”
Just to make things interesting, remember that just because the New Orleans Hornets will give up their nickname to become the Pelicans does not mean they will give up the history that arrived with the team. It will be similar to how the OKC Thunder retain records and history from the SuperSonics’ days in Seattle because of the franchise’s move, just how if the Kings were to move to Seattle, that new team would officially hold the history of the Kings franchise. Got it? Here’s the New York Times today with a refresher on what some teams can call their history.
the choice of Pelicans as a replacement name was a poorly kept secret, but making things official opens the door for one of the stranger possibilities in terms of N.B.A. recordkeeping should the Charlotte Bobcats, an expansion team that replaced the Hornets after the team moved to New Orleans in 2002, decide to reclaim the Hornets moniker.
If that happened, the team in Charlotte would have a history dating to only 2004, when the Bobcats began play. The records and statistics of the Charlotte Hornets from 1988 to 2002 would be credited to the Pelicans. To confuse matters more, the Sacramento Kings, potentially headed to Seattle under new ownership, could reclaim the SuperSonics name, though the history of that franchise, which played in Seattle from 1967 to 2008, would presumably still be owned by the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Kings’ history, which began in Rochester in 1945 and included stops in Cincinnati and Kansas City, Mo., would remain with the team in Seattle.
What do you think?
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