r/unpopularopinion • u/VideriQuamEsse • 2d ago
sports team names that reflect their city should not move when a team moves
Teams like the Lakers, who got their name when they were in Minnesota the “Land of 10,000 Lakes”, or the Jazz, who were named for New Orleans’ famed jazz scene, are committing cultural theft when they move to a new city and keep their same name.
I understand that teams are assets and their owners can choose to move their teams for a variety of reasons, but when teams borrow from a city’s or state’s cultural and historical brand, they should not get the right to take that brand and move it to another city. It’s just wrong!
And it’s nonsensical. What in the world does Los Angeles have to do with lakes? The only lakes we have are man made reservoirs that are quickly drying up. Same goes for Utah and jazz: the Mormons are about as far as you can get from the rich and sometimes debaucherous history of jazz music.
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u/slykido999 2d ago
This is an unpopular opinion? I thought most people agreed with this
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u/fliesthroughtheair 2d ago
I agree with this opinion so much. The LA Lakers & Utah Jazz are shameful
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u/GoBlueAndOrange 1d ago
Memphis Grizzlies
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u/NilsofWindhelm 2d ago
Yes everyone in LA is famously ashamed of the lakers
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u/Kriscolvin55 1d ago
All we’re saying is that when they moved from Minnesota (the land of 10,000 lakes) to Los Angeles, they should have changed their name.
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u/XZania075 18h ago
Agreed, Dallas Stars changed their name from the North Stars when they moved from Minnesota. Why others don't change their name to make it make more sense is mind boggling.
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u/MrBurnz99 1d ago
There’s a reason the examples used ate almost 50!years old.
most people thought it was dumb and every time a team has moved with a name relevant to the old city since then they renamed the team.
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u/Gold_Telephone_7192 2d ago
I’ve never heard anyone talk about this in my life or even think about it lol
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u/cracksilog 1d ago
The amount of “wrong” names in North American major sports leagues is insane
—LA Clippers were once the San Diego Clippers, which makes more sense due to SD’s military and naval history
—The Hornets were in New Orleans for a while before they transferred the name back to Charlotte. Charlotte was nicknamed a “hornets nest” due to its resilience during the Revolutionary War
—Utah Jazz should be the Utah Raptors after the state bird, but Toronto has it
—The Rams of the NFL have just been everywhere lol
—The AZ Cardinals were based in Chicago and St. Louis, where you find the type of cardinals depicted on the helmet
—Dodgers in LA make no sense because there are no trolleys to dodge like in Brooklyn
—The Athletics were named after the Philadelphia Athletic Club and now they’re going to Vegas
—Dallas Stars were originally the Minnesota North Stars, which is the Minnesota state motto
—Calgary Flames were originally called the Atlanta Flames, named after the burning of Atlanta during the civil war
—The Indianapolis Colts used to be called the Baltimore Colts, which makes more sense due to Baltimore’s horse racing history
—The Grizzlies make more sense in Vancouver than Memphis
—The Atlanta Hawks were named after Black Hawk, who lived in the Midwest
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u/Cythripio 1d ago
Utahraptor is an official name of a raptor species- the dinosaur kind, not a bird. The Utah state bird is actually the California Seagull.. lol
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u/JohnMaddensBurner 1d ago
Tbf the Cardinals are named after Cardinal Red, not the actual bird.
They’re the opposite of the Browns, who are named after a person, have never been to a Super Bowl and nobody lets them forget it. While the Cards are named after a color, have been to a Super Bowl, and people forget them all the time.
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u/Daultongray8 1d ago
Cardinals actually got their name because they wore red jersey, not because cardinals are in Chicago.
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u/Interesting_Bunch323 1d ago
No Oilers? Wow
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u/cracksilog 1d ago
You’re right how could I miss the most obvious one lmao
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u/Interesting_Bunch323 1d ago
Yeah, and the Tennessee Traitors (thanks for volunteering en masse to protect my state) have the gall to wear City of Houston/Luv ya Blue and even issued cease and desist orders
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u/Sparkly8 quiet person 1d ago
As a Minnesotan, I can get behind Texas being the Stars. Texas is the Lone Star State.
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u/Strong_Blackberry961 1d ago
I’m pretty sure the Atlanta Flames were named after the burning of Atlanta during any day in July or August.
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u/MancAccent 1d ago
The Dallas Stars are the only one that still kinda makes sense, as here in Texas we sing “the stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas”
Of course, with light pollution, you’re not seeing many stars in either Dallas or Minnesota.
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u/Tim-oBedlam 1d ago
No way! The Atlanta Flames were named after Sherman burning the city during the Civil War? That's awesome. TIL.
I did not know the origin of the name Athletics.
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u/Tim-oBedlam 1d ago
Honestly, the Utah Jazz just cracks me up because Utah is, objectively, the least funky state in the Union. Unless that's Idaho.
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u/knockoffvalkyrie 1d ago
clippers aren't tooooo egregious because at least they're still near the ocean. it was way cooler when they were in SD though i'll give you that
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u/chunkymonk3y 1d ago
The North Stars to Stars is the only one that kind of works but they still should have been the Lone Stars imo
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u/guyoncrack 1d ago
Most irritating possibly being NBA and NHL, which due to Canadian teams involved shouldn't contain the word 'National', but instead something like 'International', 'Binational', or 'North American', making them the IBA/BBA/NABA and the IHL/BHL/NAHL.
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u/ArchEast 1d ago
Dodgers in LA make no sense because there are no trolleys to dodge like in Brooklyn
Does the LA Metro's light rail count?
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u/Gold-Stomach-4657 2d ago
I like the Raptors name for my hometown team, but they should do a shuffle: New Orleans Jazz, Utah Raptors, Toronto Timberwolves, Minnesota/Minneapolis Lakers, Los Angeles Pelicans
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u/Im_A_Real_Boy1 2d ago
When the Hornets first moved, people suggested switching with Utah, the Beehive State
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u/Sparkly8 quiet person 1d ago
If you use Minneapolis for a team name in Minnesota, there will be riots.
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u/alexus_de_tokeville 2d ago
Or the Dallas stars, originally the Minnesota North Stars. People don't like Minneapolis huh?
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u/areohbeevee 2d ago
It would’ve made more sense if they were the Dallas Lone Stars, since Minnesota is the North Star State and Texas is the Lone Star State
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u/Phog_Warning10 2d ago
The stars at night, are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas!
Stars absolutely works for a Texas based team. Also, Dallas Cowboys logo is a star.
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u/effyochicken 2d ago
I’ve yet to see a single Ram in Los Angeles county.
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u/ssgfrmrswrp 2d ago
To be fair, LA is closer to bighorn sheep than St. Louis is I'm pretty sure.
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u/dontwantthisapp2 1d ago
We have a couple in our zoo, I think…
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u/PenaltyAny3207 1d ago
https://abc7.com/amp/post/rare-herd-bighorn-sheep-spotted-san-gabriel-mountains/16601200/
There’s a small population up there that’s been slowly recovering over the years.
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u/tearsonurcheek 19h ago
They were founded in Cleveland...which also is not native to rams. They were named the Rams because the original owner liked the Fordham University mascot.
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u/TheTempest77 2d ago
Sorry where do you think the Rams started as a team?
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u/Penarol1916 2d ago
Cleveland
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u/TryOrganic9361 2d ago
Tbf LA were The Rams before St. Louis.
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u/OPsDearOldMother 1d ago
It's funny when it works out. For example the Houston Rockets were originally the San Diego Rockets but it kinda makes more sense that they would be in Houston given the NASA history.
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u/AginAustin11 2d ago
Still pisses me off when the Titans wear the Luv Ya Blue colors. There’s no oil in Tennessee and it’s not your history!
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u/Interesting_Bunch323 1d ago
Preach!! Bud Adams must have been a spiteful asshole
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u/ArchEast 1d ago
A criminal understatement. He was so bad Houston basically told him don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
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u/Kriscolvin55 1d ago
Officially, it is their history.
The only team to move and not bring their history with them was when the Browns moved to Baltimore to become the Ravens. It was…a strange scenario.
Also, there is oil in Tennessee. That was just a bit from BASEketball.
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u/triplenested 1d ago edited 1d ago
The whole Browns thing pisses me off to be honest, because first off, the organization was extremely well run and wasn't a losing culture losing the support of their fans beforehand like when the Baltimore Colts moved away, they had a perfectly fine W-L record in the 90s until the move was announced. Then that entire organization moved and has been basically never a bad team since, because they were a organization that didn't really have many true extended losing periods beforehand. Then the Browns "come back", but it's really just an expansion team. But the NFL realized right around that time that they were giving expansion teams like the Titans and Jaguars too much rookie draft capital and too much expansion draft power because those teams were the best teams in the NFL 5 years after they started, so the Browns didn't even get to start off with a decent team like the other expansion teams. (Then the NFL re-corrected a bit so that the Texans could be the proper amount of mediocre.) And they've just been a joke ever since. Give it another 20 years and they'll probably be fine, honestly, but they're not going to win a Super Bowl.
Rant over.
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u/tearsonurcheek 19h ago
The Browns last division title was 6 years before they "suspended operations". They've never won the AFC North, which has existed for 24 seasons (not counting this year). So, yeah, 30 years and counting, excluding their 3-year hiatus.
The Oilers/Titans and Jags won the old AFC Central a combined 5 times since that last Browns title.
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u/MrBurnz99 1d ago
Recently the Arizona Coyotes did this in the NHL.
The team (players, personnel) moved to Salt Lake City to become the mammoth but the franchise history stayed in Phoenix. If the Arizona ownership group gets their shit together they will be allowed to do the same thing the browns did in Cleveland and restart the old franchise through expansion.
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u/Interesting_Bunch323 1d ago
Nashville is not the energy capital of the world like Houston is
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u/ReturnByDeath- 2d ago
Popular take. Also, which teams that have relocated this century have kept a name that reflects the previous city?
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u/antonio16309 2d ago
Good point. In the NFL if you look back ak the last 30 years the Oilers and Browns left their names behind (Browns doesn't reflect Cleveland but there's a lot of history there). The Rams, Raiders, and Chargers aren't related to their locations.
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u/eiram87 2d ago
I think leagues should disallow moving, while leaving a loophole open for owners to to dissolve their current team and create a new one in their preferred city. For example, if Robert Kraft wanted to move the New England Patriots out of New England, he couldn't. He'd have to give up the Patriots name and branding and start a new team in his new location, he'd also have to release all his staff and players and offer them new contracts. This helps a people, it helps the fans, their team is gone, they don't have to worry about of they're going to keep rooting for the Patriots, the Patriots don't exist. They have to choose a new team, and they can choose Kraft's new team if they like or a different one, and the fans in the new area don't have to wonder if they have to root for the Patriots now, they get a brand new team. Also the staff and players can decide if they want to move, if they hated the idea of a move they can just not take the new contract and walk away. This would definitely make moving more of a risk, especially with the loss of branding and traditions, but I think it would go over a bit better, especially since some other rich guy could swoop in buy up all the Patriots branding and start his own team on the foundation already laid, meaning the fans of the team that left don't necessarily actually lose their team.
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u/ArchEast 1d ago
Ironically, Kraft got control of the Patriots by buying the original Foxboro Stadium and refusing to let the team get out of its lease to move to St. Louis...resulting in Kraft later buying the franchise and keeping them in New England.
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u/taez555 1d ago
Did you just watch the movie Baseketball where the first 5 minutes has a whole rant about this?
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u/NickelCitySaint 1d ago
I quoted Baseketball on a similar post. I found it hilarious, the person I responded didnt find it funny, while admitting they saw the movie.
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u/BlueFalcon89 2d ago
Pistons wouldn’t work anywhere else but the motor city.
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u/lilzingerlovestorun 2d ago
Maybe a city in Ontario? Ik they also had a big part in the auto industry.
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u/Olddirtybelgium 1d ago
The Hamilton Pistons works. Would save driving time when Raptors fans want to drive down from Toronto for cheaper tickets.
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u/AdImmediate6239 1d ago
Agreed. The Utah Jazz should change their name to the Utah Tabernacle Choir, it would be more fitting.
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u/Consistent_Emu4103 2d ago
Related: when our North Stars moved to Dallas, they should have renamed to the Lone Stars, not just the Stars.
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u/MonicaLewinskibidis 2d ago
Vancouver Grizzlies to Memphis Grizzlies. There are still grizzly bears in the Smokies right?
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u/good-good-dog 1d ago
Every Seattle SuperSonics fan agrees with this and looks forward to their return.
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u/Snapple47 1d ago
Did you just watch BASEketball for the first time? This is not an unpopular opinion in the slightest and has been joked about for decades.
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u/CrossXFir3 1d ago
Rich bitches shouldn't be able to just buy a team and move it is the actual take. A sports team is a part of the community. It's a disgrace that some disconnected rich kid can just up and move to where ever as long as they get approval.
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u/QuarterNote44 1d ago
Very popular. The Millers wanted to change the Jazz name, but buying the team nearly bankrupted them. And by the time they had more capital the team was already entrenched as the Jazz. Oh well, I don't see many saber toothed tigers in Nashville or warriors in San Francisco.
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u/Bootmacher 1d ago
The Predators' logo was chosen due to a sabre-toothed tiger skeleton being found right in Downtown Nashville.
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u/spartacat_12 1d ago
They literally found a sabretooth tiger skull in Nashville when they were building the arena
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u/Interesting_Bunch323 1d ago
Underrated post! The Houston Oilers would like to have a word with Tennessee
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u/tcarlson65 1d ago
When Norm Green was thinking about moving the North Stars he dropped the North from the name and the N from the jersey and they just became the Stars. I am still salty about them leaving and bringing the history to Dallas.
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u/CranberryKidney 1d ago
I think the Jazz and the pelicans should just trade names. Jazz obviously belongs in New Orleans and the Great Salt Lake is one of the biggest breeding grounds for Pelicans in the North American Continent
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u/Longhorns_ 1d ago
Houston Oilers —> Tennessee Oilers. Ridiculous. By the way, give Houston its history back
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u/Auchmanaughton 7h ago
First example that popped up into my head. I get that it was a placeholder until the team got the rights to the name Titans from the New York Jets organization but they probably should have worked all that out ahead of time.
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u/Kalle_79 1d ago
Well, the entire concept of relocation is preposterous.
But it fits American sports system where it's not (only) about competition and representation, but about business.
Teams shouldn't be treated like commercial brands you can move around and rename according to whatever new business idea the owner got.
I mean, elsewhere fans lost their collective mind due to TEAM COLOURS (even on reserve kits!) or to a slightly altered logo. It's just impossible to imagine a team moving to the other side of the country because "there's a lucrative market there" and fans to go along with it.
If a city isn't supporting their team or the team sucks, just let it die and replace it with an up-and-coming one from elsewhere, instead of running the weird capitalist-communism closed-league system that rewards awful performances.
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u/schorschico 1d ago edited 1d ago
Every year when the draft comes it always reminds me of "...to each according to his needs". Doesn't get much more communist than that.
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u/OtherSideOfKnowhere 1d ago
Better yet: Sports teams are so important cities should seize them through eminent domain and this time the courts should let them.
I’m all for spending public money on things the public loves. Unless you’re a Packer fan, you’re just cheering for a business that will leave when there is more money someplace else.
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u/smokey2916 2d ago
This is why I hate that the Raiders took the name to Vegas. Nothing cool and outlaw about that place, should have just been the Vegas lounge lizards or some shit.
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u/aselinger 2d ago
Nothing cool or outlaw about Vegas? The place where people go to gamble, do drugs, and bang hookers?
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u/smokey2916 1d ago
No, the overpriced pool party and corporate convention destination that is experiencing a drop in visitors because it priced out average people.
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u/AstronomicalStress 11h ago
I’ll do you one better: cities should entirely own the IP for the team from the outset. We have become so accustomed to letting the handful of billionaires who own these teams call the shots unchecked.
Want to move out of the city? Congrats on getting out of paying your fair share of taxes, a-hole, have fun hiring a design team.
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u/AnytimeInvitation 1d ago
I know there are bodies of water in LA but are the big enough to sail? Hence, Former MN Lakers, Land of 10000 Lakes.
Not being a smart ass im legit asking.
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u/SnooPeripherals8011 1d ago
Hockey teams change their names. Quebec Nordiques became the Colorado Avalanche. Minnesota North stars became the Dallas Stars. Atlanta Thrashers went back to being the Winnipeg Jets.
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u/Unhappy-Attention760 1d ago
I was trying to think of instances where the original team name suited the new city better than the old one
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u/miclugo 1d ago
I don't think there are any. There are some names that work just fine in the new locations (Braves, Athletics, Warriors, Giants) but no clear improvements.
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u/NoRadish5080 21h ago
From their creation in 1937 to 1957, we had the Fort Wayne Pistons. Then they moved to Detroit and became the Detroit Pistons. Which, being the motor city, didn’t require a name change. I think it technically fit Fort Wayne, but I don’t think anyone knows it or thinks of Fort Wayne as a car manufacturing city nearly as much as Detroit. And from what I can find, the only reason they were called the pistons was because their original owner owned a piston factory. I dont think the city completely lacks car manufacturing (and isn’t even that far from Detroit and is in the rust belt), but I think Detroit’s a better fit.
An even better one: the Houston Rockets were founded in 1967 and were originally the San Diego Rockets. Which was chosen “as it paid homage to San Diego's theme of ‘city in motion’” and references “the local arm of General Dynamics developing the Atlas missile and booster rocket program.”
Which is great and all, but they moved to Houston in 1971 and the name was A LOT more fitting. No offense to San Diego’s iconic motion and local arm of General Dynamics, of course.
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u/Danktizzle 1d ago
Stop watching NFL and NCAA then. They are the gatekeepers and your money fuels them.
Promotion/relegation is the answer but the monopoly leagues are busy protecting their anticompetitive business that America wholeheartedly supports.
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u/30sumthingSanta 1d ago
NCAA doesn’t have teams leave for other cities. The whole school switches conferences way too much though.
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u/Danktizzle 12h ago
They also don’t allow their employees to have a career with their teams. Which is a much worse evil in my opinion.
The 1% that do get careers are subject to the monopolies that will do what they want with their assets.
Again. Pro/ rel. college and nfl in one giant pyramid.
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u/terryjuicelawson 1d ago
I love how American this is. Teams shouldn't change cities anyway, and why do they all have to have stupid nicknames and mascots as part of their official title?
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u/indieehead 1d ago
You forgot the most egregious one. LA lakers were the Minneapolis lakers (we have lots of lakes in the city and the state is land of 10000 lakes) LA doesn’t even know what a laker is
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u/Klaytheist 1d ago
i'm not against relocation. It's a business after all and if a market is no longer viable, the owner has a right to look for new markets. However, they should change the team name. It's no longer the same team so start with a new name
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u/Binder_Grinder 1d ago
You’re on to something, the Minnesota Northstars moving to Dallas and becoming the Stars both keeps the “name” but also adapts to the new location.
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u/spartacat_12 1d ago
This isn't an unpopular opinion. People constantly complain about a team in Utah being called the Jazz.
The thing is that most of the examples you mentioned happened a long time ago when sports branding/merchandising wasn't the billion-dollar business it is now. It costs money to rebrand, and it's a time consuming process. A lot of these relocations happened pretty suddenly, leaving little time to change the name or logo
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u/InspectionFine9655 1d ago
> committing cultural theft when they move to a new city and keep their same name.
I knew this post would be crazy
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u/Fuckspez42 1d ago
This one is fun: the Calgary Flames were originally from Atlanta, and the name was a reference to the burning of Atlanta during General Sherman’s march to the sea during the Civil War.
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u/birdinbrain 1d ago
The Arizona Cardinals bothers me the most. There are no Northern Cardinals in Arizona, but they do have a unique and interesting species of Cardinalidae called the Pyrrhuloxia. I’m not saying they should change their name to the Arizona Pyrrhuloxia, but changing the logo to be one (dusty brown head with red accents on the crest and face) would be so much cooler and more emblematic of Arizona!
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u/Euphoric-Web-6411 1d ago
Utah Jazz is the most inappropriate nickname in the history of nicknames. . . . Like the New Orleans Teetotalers would be.
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u/SturdyWarshinMachine 1d ago
Utahn here. There is a joke that says the Utah Jazz and the New Orleans Saints should switch names.
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u/TacticalTurtleNeck_ 1d ago
“And now, the starting five for yourrrrrrrr Utah Mormons!!!!” Would have made them objectively better in every way.
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u/Balogma69 13h ago
Wrong. Jazz was invented by the Mormons in 1897 in Utah. Stop spreading misinformation and revisionist history
/s
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u/Papa-P21 2d ago
Awesome everyone agrees and theres no way to solve this issue. 1. Thats a very small price to pay for a free country. 2. Who's the judge on culture? 3. Why stop at sports teams? White people with corn rows... give them a ticket.
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u/edipeisrex 2d ago
Yeah like how the Jazz moved to Utah where music is prohibited.
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u/vilogrim 1d ago
That seems like an odd situation. In most countries teams don't "move".
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u/terryjuicelawson 1d ago
In England it happened once when Wimbledon moved to Milton Keynes. Everyone thought it was ridiculous, and in the end a club in London reformed under the old name and inherited the past team's history and titles etc. Now everyone hates the MK "Dons". The distance between the two places - less than 60 miles.
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u/ddbbaarrtt 1d ago
As a non-American you lost me at ‘teams are assets’
It’s mental that the thing that stays with a sports team is its nickname and not its location
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u/ninjomat 2d ago
I feel like this is fairly low down the list of issues most people have with sports teams being able to move
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u/Spiritual-Rope5186 1d ago
ok what about the buffalo bills?
buffalo bill is from iowa and lived his life in colorado
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u/vektorog Hates the internet 1d ago
lakers get a pass from me because "LA lakers" just rolls off the tongue so well. the jazz on the other hand....
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u/Rhanson72 1d ago
Unpopular opinion or pointless opinion? Name the sports team anything, who cares? It means nothing.
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u/smitbret 1d ago
What? You've never been to Kool-Aid Street in Salt Lake City where there is a Jazz Club on every corner?
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u/return_to_sender_CO 1d ago
As Bob Costas famously remarked The Utah Jazz... because there's nothing quite like the cool, syncopated rhythm of Salt Lake City
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u/JohnMaddensBurner 1d ago
The Titans initially keeping the Oilers name upon moving to Tennessee lol.
They could have maybe pulled off a move to San Antonio or Corpus Christi, big maybe, and for sure a move to Midland-Odessa, but nobody wants to go to the Permian Basin to watch football.
Good they changed their name but it still seems kinda odd for Music City. I know why they’re Titans but I still think it’s dumb.
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u/Whatswrongbaby9 1d ago
As much as I am angry about the Sonics being stolen it would just add to the fire, Oklahoma City has no aviation background
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u/Mesoscale92 1d ago
The OKC region has multiple Air Force bases going back to at least WW2. Tinker AFB and Naval Air Station Norman are the two largest. They also have one of the largest FAA facilities in the country at the main civilian airport.
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u/Tim-oBedlam 1d ago
I was hoping for the most inappropriate name possible: the Oklahoma City Mad Bombers.
(too soon?)
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u/Money-Giraffe2521 2d ago
“Soon, it was commonplace for entire teams to change cities in search of greater profits. The Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles, where there are no lakes. The Oilers moved to Tennessee, where there is no oil. The Jazz moved to Salt Lake City, where they don't allow music. The Oakland Raiders moved to LA and then back to Oakland. No one in Los Angeles seemed to notice. The search for greener pastures went on unabated. Continued expansion diluted the talent pool, forcing owners to recruit heavily from prisons, mental institutions, and Texas.”