Less is more, at least when it comes to sports team names these days. Boston’s new women’s professional soccer team is the latest franchise to do away with typical conventions, with the organization announcing this week that the team will be named “Boss Nation FC.” Reactions to the nickname, an anagram of “Bostonian” meant to evoke “Boss Energy,” have been mixed, according to the team’s owners, but whether you like such names or not, the larger sports world It will take up a large portion.
When it comes to Major League Soccer and the NWSL, many teams ignore animal mascots and clear historical references in favor of names like Real Salt Lake, Minnesota United, and New York City FC. This is a nod to famous European and South American clubs like Real. Madrid and Manchester United.
One of the reasons for the shift to more common names is trademark law. As more teams emerge, and especially as interest in women’s sports increases, the number of influential mascot names dwindles.
The Women’s Professional Hockey League, created last year through a merger between competing leagues, played its first season with a lineup of teams identified only by city name. The new league surveyed fans for recommendations and found that many of the most popular suggestions had already been adopted, Amy Scheer, the league’s senior vice president of business operations, told the Wall Steet Journal. told.
“We’re dealing with intellectual property across two countries with different laws,” said Scheer, a former executive with the NFL and Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls. “When you go through this process, lo and behold, it feels like all the names are already taken.
But next season, the team will have a more traditional name like the Minnesota Frost or New York Sirens.
Basic branding influences America’s ‘big four’ sports leagues
When the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes moved to Utah, the team’s owners had to go through a similar process to buy time. For now, the team is playing as the Utah Hockey Club, with fans voting on several options presented by the organization, with the ‘Yeti’ reportedly being the frontrunner.
The hockey team’s current branding is currently unconventional, with the team borrowing the Jazz Bear from Salt Lake City’s NBA team for its home game mascot.
But the most famous example of a delayed rebrand remains Washington’s NFL team. The organization abandoned its more than 80-year-old Redskins name, which many Native Americans considered a racist epithet.
After two seasons as the Washington Football Team, the franchise has finally settled on becoming the “Commanders” in 2022. Many options suggested by fans, such as “Red Wolves,” faced trademark concerns. Meanwhile, the MLB team, the Cleveland Indians, has ditched its longtime name in favor of becoming the local landmark Guardians.
Boston’s new women’s soccer team took a different approach, but still found a way to stir controversy this week. As the team looks to carve out a space in a sports scene dominated by the city’s historic men’s team, it has unveiled an ad campaign that irreverently proclaims, “There are too many balls in this city.”
The provocative ad enlisted the help of local male sports stars such as former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Celtics’ Jaylen Brown. However, the team canceled the campaign and apologized the next day after some fans criticized it as transphobic.
“We wanted to create a bold and topical brand launch campaign, but we missed the mark,” the team said in a statement Wednesday.
But for now, it looks like the name is here to stay. This is significantly different from the city’s previous NWSL franchise, the Boston Breakers, which disbanded in 2018.
