Benson (New NOH owner) wants Jazz name from Utah

[finnegan]

The Utah Saints......

Good one! We could could offer a straight up trade.

But since the Jazz are pretty physical, calling them the Saints might be a bit of a misnomer.

[retiredcoach]

Benson says he's good buddies with Stern and he wants Stern to let NO use the Jazz nickname.

It's never going to happen. The NBA is all about marketing. There are too many conflicts with his proposal. What he really wants is for Utah to find a new nickname. What! A'ole

However, I agree Hornets isn't a good name for a New Orleans sports team. I lived their for 23 years so I get it.

Benson should go the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and give them a boat load of money to license the Ragin Cajuns nickname.

It sounds tougher than Jazz, and the rednecks would buy more beer.

[Fido]

Hornets is not a bad name for a franchise, but I understand the need for some tie to the area or history or something. But there has to be something other than Jazz that they could use.

Or you bring back the Utah Stars name and sell the Jazz to the Hornets for a ton of money. Hey--both teams would sell a bunch of new merchandise...

[Hoops Addict]

Trade the name for $100,000,000. Spend it all to sign 2 MAX players and the tax......and win the NBA title.

Either that or Gordon and 10 first round pics.

NO will get nothing and like it. We Weel not trade our heroes names to the enemy!!!

[Spottieottie]

How do you think Jazz upper management likes this new hot-shot owner coming in and showing such disrespect... I think Stern knows better what to do here.

The best is these outside journalists like Kelly Dwyer saying no one would side with the Jazz in this case... **** him and what he thinks. Seriously, the New Orleans Jazz thing is a groupthink **** waiting to happen. What about the Los Angeles Lakers? No one gives a **** about consistency. ****.

[Xsy]

New Orleans is a failure of an NBA city.

They couldn't hold onto their franchise, so we adopted it as our own. And we made it an awesome franchise. No way do we give up our NBA history just because we have MoTab instead of Jazz.

Hell, it would probably be for the best if the Hornets were relocated as well.

[DelaneyRudd]

The only bad ass animal named after Utah is the Utah Raptor. Maybe a three way trade can be worked out.

[MeestR]

The only bad ass animal named after Utah is the Utah Raptor. Maybe a three way trade can be worked out.

4 way with bobcats, too?

or mayhaps toronto can get their husky name back?

[DelaneyRudd]

Raptors can take the Kings since they have a Monarch. Then the Kings become the Sonics.

[retiredcoach]

I don't believe the NO Saints copyrighted the name Aints when they were having problems.

Benson could rename the team the New Orleans Aints.

It fits.

[kamazilla]

Utah trades: Jazz
Utah gets: Raptors
Why: Smart, vicious dino-predator who utilizes cunning teamwork to slay victims; new name intimidates opponents and the Raptor was native to this region. Besides, when it comes to jazz, or cuisine for that matter, or architecture, or fiction, Utah is no New Orleans.

New Orleans trades: Hornets
New Orleans gets: Jazz
Why: The Hornets is a terrible nickname which has no special ties to a city abundant in unique characteristics which make it unlike any place else.

Memphis trades: Grizzlies
Memphis gets: Blues
Why: Grizzlies is an odd fit for for Memphis while Blues is a natural and creates a nice rivalry opportunity for New Orleans and Memphis.

Charlotte trades: Bobcats
Charlotte gets: Hornets
Why: Why not? Bad as the Hornets nickname is, its better than the Bobcats. Besides, its theirs, and ties to better days of NBA relevance.

Toronto trades: Raptors
Toronto receives: Grizzlies
Why: Just to piss Vancouver off.

[MeestR]

nice

[finnegan]

Hornets is not a bad name for a franchise, but I understand the need for some tie to the area or history or something. But there has to be something other than Jazz that they could use.

Or you bring back the Utah Stars name and sell the Jazz to the Hornets for a ton of money. Hey--both teams would sell a bunch of new merchandise...

I actually like that idea. Then we can say that we won a championship.

[Reckless]

I heard this argument from New Orleans fans and I tell them you lost it when your team sucked ass. You want to lose it a second time to another random city? Does anyone really believe that franchise is headed in the right direction?

[DelaneyRudd]

They aren't in cap hell so they can get good with one or two good off seasons. Gordon won't be a superstar so they need a lot of help, but with an experienced sports owner who knows the market and has brought a champ to the city in another league they are better off today than before.

[Jefff]

no way!

[hoops4life]

Only for a first round pick? You are selling yourself way too short. Utah has a lot of built in goodwill and equity in their name. The "Jazz" name has to be worth 10's of millions of dollars to the team at minimum.

[Fido]

Changing a logo/name is very expensive. They would need to design a new logo and get all the appropriate approvals which can take a time and lots of money to some marketing/design firm. Then they have to roll out all the new merchandise, which in turn kills any value in the "old" design merchandise. Then rebrand everything from business cards to websites to stationary to signs in the building and around town. Certainly not a trivial change.

[eLo]

Utah Jazz after those 3+ decades sound great, no way any one sane would change that.