OT: City vs. State Names for Pro Teams

Submitted by Peter Nesbitt on

I'm relatively new to Denver after living in Michigan for most of my life, and have been thinking about why Denver has two sports teams with Colorado in their name (Rockies, and Avs) and two with Denver in their name (Nuggets and Broncos). I thought this was odd, because I grew up being a fan of only teams with Detroit in their name.

So, I did a little research, and came up with a list of the sports teams from the big 4 sports that DON'T have their city/metropolitan area in their name, plus what the closest major city is:

State Names:

  • Arizona—Diamondbacks, Cardinals, Coyotes (Phoenix)
  • Colorado—Rockies, Avalanche (Denver)
  • Florida—Panthers (Miami)
  • Indiana—Pacers (Indianapolis)
  • Minnesota—Twins, Vikings, Wild, Timberwolves (Minneapolis)
  • New Jersey—Devils (Newark or NYC)
  • Tennessee—Titans (Nashville)
  • Texas—Rangers (Dallas)
  • Utah—Jazz (SLC)

Region Names:

  • New England—Patriots (Boston)
  • Carolina—Panthers (Charlotte), Hurricanes (Raleigh)
  • Golden State—Warriors (Oakland)

I'd prefer if cities were consistent--it doesn't make any sense to me when cities have multiple teams and some go by the city and some by the state/region. In my opinion, the only city that has multiple cities and successfully uses their state name is Minneapolis.

Do you think the trend toward city names will continue—who might be next? Would you prefer all/more city names?

EGD

April 27th, 2015 at 8:34 PM ^

I don't really have an opinion on the city vs. state issue. But what does kind of annoy me are some of the illogical or awkward names that come from teams trying too hard to think of something that doesn't end in -s. I remember watching an episode of Jeopardy! a long time ago, and the final jeopardy question was to name the only two franchises in major sports whose names didn't end in -s; the answer then was the Red Sox and White Sox. Since then, it seems like half the new teams have to be "the Avalanche" or "the Shock" or "the Wild" or some shit. Well that's fine for referring to the whole team, but what do you call a single member of the Minnesota Wild? (I do know what to call an individual member of the Shock).

Don

April 27th, 2015 at 9:04 PM ^

But having teams out in the suburbs taking the name of the city is stupid too. You want the name San Francisco 49ers, then play in the fucking city, not out in Santa Clara. Should be the Auburn Hills Pistons while we're at it.

NittanyFan

April 27th, 2015 at 9:53 PM ^

Anyone ever tried to drive from San Francisco to Santa Clara on your average weekday???  Oh boy, save PLENTY of time.  

It is seriously easier to get from Santa Clara to Oakland (which, of course, already has an NFL team named after it) than from Santa Clara to San Francisco.  I know this will never happen, but given such, they really should be the San Jose 49ers or the Santa Clara 49ers or the Bay Area 49ers.

Avant's Hands

April 27th, 2015 at 10:23 PM ^

As a Devils fan, the city is absolutely Newark. New York City is the home of the Rangers (and I will let any Islanders fans discuss which city or region they call home).

I really don't care about this either way, although I will say that I like it when teams have a non-plural nickname.

DrMantisToboggan

April 27th, 2015 at 10:49 PM ^

I'm a huge Pats fan and I wish they weren't New England. I wasn't yet born when they were the Boston Patriots, but I do wish they'd go back to identifying with the city (although it is a little cool being the only pro sports team named after a multi-state region). 

leftrare

April 27th, 2015 at 11:12 PM ^

I live and work in Downtown Chicago and I'm sick of the NFL draft before it's even started. So, I'm a little jaded right now about the boss of pro sports. That said, I've always thought Ohio North and Ohio South would be great names for the Browns and Bengals.

ElBictors

April 27th, 2015 at 11:13 PM ^

Lifelong Broncos fan and 4th Generation native I'd have to say here it is due to simple marketing. Denver Broncos and Denver Nuggets ...minor league baseball Denver Bears. The Colorado Rockies/Avalanche are meant to appeal to a broader state/regional/branded level. Same with Rapids and hipster LAX teams in Denver.

And remember the Arizona (football) Cardinals were the Phoenix Cardinals before the Arizona Cards after the change ...

Bottom line is whether you have municipal - Dallas vs Houston - or more state level branding - "Carolina" vs Tennessee

superstringer

April 28th, 2015 at 7:12 AM ^

Kind of a trick question because it only has 3 major pro teams. And the hockey team used to have a different color scheme, but when the other two won championships in the 70's, thehockey team changed colors to match them.




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jmblue

April 28th, 2015 at 2:54 PM ^

"Golden State"  is really strange if you think about it.  I've always known the Warriors by that name, but I can't imagine how weird it must have gone down at first.