Does a Team Need a Nickname?
John Hoh
Friday November 18, 2005
Immediately the Kansas City group had a "Name the Team contest. Yes, I myself entered, even though I do not live in Kansas City. I thought the name "Kansas City Sizzle" reflected the heritage of Kansas City and had that touch of pizzazz AFL teams have been known for in names.
This contest was to have ended October 21, 2005. And indeed no more entries were received after that date. Soon the web site (http://www.arenafootballkc.com/ ) announced that the new name would be announced "soon."
Here it is, November 16 as of this writing, and there is still no official announcement of the "Kansas City Sizzle" (oops, I mean the name of the KC AFL team). The team is doing something—there have been tryouts, trades, the acquisition of the players who had been under contract with the VooDoo.
But the players do not know what they will be called. Nor do they know what their uniforms and helmets will look like (maybe they’ll bring back those Zuba stripes?).
But does a team need a nickname? In baseball’s early years nicknames were a vague concept. Baseball cards stated a player played for the New York Americans or New York Nationals or Brooklyn Nationals. Usually sportswriters applied monikers to teams. And usually these sportswriters were fascinated by socks—the Tigers wore striped socks, the Cardinals and Reds/Redlegs red socks, the Browns had brown socks, etc. The Chicago-St. Louis-Phoenix-Arizona Cardinals of the NFL were so named because they inherited faded red jerseys discarded by the University of Chicago. But that was in the "dark ages" of sport. No one knew the power of branding then. There were no licensing fees. Is that an indication as to whether a team can go without a nickname?
I direct you to Exhibit A, a Canadian Football League entry in Baltimore, Maryland. This was when the CFL thought there was gold in them thar states. Originally the Baltimore franchise wanted to use the name "Colts." Fair enough. The Colts had been part and parcel of Baltimore until they were snuck out of town under cover of darkness. The glory years of Colt football resides still in Baltimore.
But the NFL sued to prevent the Baltimore CFL franchise from using the name "Colts." They had an exclusive right to that name. Of course, they didn’t complain that the CFL British Columbia franchised shared the "Lions" name with the Detroit NFL franchise. Go figure.
So for a year the franchise in Baltimore playing a schedule against CFL opponents was known simply as "Baltimore CFL." This doesn’t mean the denizens of Baltimore didn’t have some fun. Allegedly the PA announcer would announce "Your Baltimore CFL…" and the crowd would shout out "Colts!" Sneaky, eh?
Baltimore, with or without a nickname, didn’t let a lack of a nickname hinder it. This franchise was the most successful American CFL franchise both on and off the field in the CFL’s failed attempt to expand south of the border. And when the franchise finally went with "Stallions," it remained successful and proved to be the only American winner of the Grey Cup.
The Stallions may have stayed in Baltimore. They relocated to Montreal and became the latest incarnation of the Allouettes when Art Model flew his Browns from Cleveland into town, where they morphed into Ravens. Can you imagine the anti-American sentiment in Canada had the Stallions stayed and dominated CFL league play?
So if they don’t choose a nickname in Kansas City all too soon, or even for this upcoming season, I say, "Don’t worry." Take your time, pick out a good name. Make Kansas City proud.
And deep down, I know "Kansas City Sizzle" will still be the best bet.
John L. Hoh, Jr., is a free-lance writer from Milwaukee who grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin, as an avid Dolphins fan. He followed Arena Football since its inception, at one point watching tape-delayed games on low-powered WAV-TV in Waukesha. His happiest day was when Milwaukee was awarded the Mustangs franchise; his saddest when the Mustangs were contracted out of the league. John is married to his wife Maija (13+ years) and has a young son, Matthew. John pines for the return of the Arena Football League to Milwaukee.
