Team Names

[Iron Lions - Ed]

I noticed while looking at the results following the Campaign cup this weekend that all the UK team names now include a location.

http://p8ntballer-forums.com/threads/ms-london-2013-webcast-scores-chat.159272/page-2

I'm curious if this is a natural cultural shift from when I stopped playing tournie around 5 years ago or if a rule was put in place for some tournament that forced this change?

With so many London teams now do we need to consider encouraging some of them a bit more localised?

 

[scott_peters]

Hey Ed

There is no rule in place it is purely down to the teams choosing

 

[HPUKer]

I thought it all stemmed from some series requirement around 2006 (and not sure if it was stateside, or euro who adopted it first). Just seems to have stuck around.

 

[Iron Lions - Ed]

I get why it used to be for the most part teams that travelled abroad to play that did it for the increased brand recognition but not sure why all domestic teams adopted it. I did have a memory of a series wanting teams to use them as well. Not that I think it's a bad thing!

I guess identifying with a distinct area help build support by association and the ever desired sponsorship opportunities we all long for from those not directly involved in the sport. It feel like now we have team identifying with local areas the next step would be trying to raise awareness in those areas of the teams existence if only a couple of lines in the local paper on a regular basis.

Is claiming London in your name the equivalent of claiming a county somewhere else in the country? Kent Warriors or Devon Daredevils being the next type of set of names we start to see?

 

[Gadget]

I thought it was driven by the PSP, as they're trying to push the Pro ranks towards the location-based franchise model seen in major league US sports. It also helps encourage support for specific teams from local fans which is a big positive. It doesn't seem to translate as well in the UK for some reason - there are very few locations which sound cool when tacked onto a team's name, hence the number of 'London' teams - having the Romford Tigers or Dudley Disruption doesn't have the same ring to it!

 

[Team GB]

All locked div's in the MS div1 spl/Cpl have to have town or city names.

 

[ShelleyHicky]

All Divisions are requested to have home towns attached to their team names, as per Millennium Series rules from 2006.

London is obviously where the greats come from