Kudos to Scott Pruitt & Bob Funk for using a sports branding firm!
Still not a fan of ditching brick red and black, but it makes complete sense re: the parent club of the Redhawks...
Kudos to Scott Pruitt & Bob Funk for using a sports branding firm!
Still not a fan of ditching brick red and black, but it makes complete sense re: the parent club of the Redhawks...
The new Redhawks stuff is nice. Too bad our AAA baseball team with a questionable nickname can have a good set of logos and our NBA team with a questionable nickname can't.
at this point in the process, I can only assume it was a typo and they meant to say "cram"...
What's wrong with the "RedHawks"?
Olevet Posse Bail Bondsman
"I searched through rebellion, drugs, diets, mysticism, religions, intellectualism and much more, only to begin to find that truth is basically simple - and feels good, clean and right"
- Chick Corea
I think Redhawks was going to be the name of the NHL team that we nearly got about 10 years ago. That could have been a rumor, as I have no direct information about it.Originally Posted by Mixer!
Redhawks = bland, generic corporate name
89ers = colorful, unique name w/ local flavor
Know thy self,
know thy enemy.
A thousand battles,
a thousand victories. - Sun Tzu (500 B.C.)
I heard the same rumor at the time. A lot. The former Redhawk ownership group was at the time directly involved in trying to lure an NHL expansion team. Also, OKC was feeling pretty confident about getting one. It was a shock to some of those people that we didn't get it. I was all for it at the time, but in hindsight it was pretty fortuitous that we didn't.
Well, crap.
So true. Imagine if we'd have gotten the NHL team and had to ride out the shut out year. Plus, the economics of the NHL is dicey. The team is closer to the size of an NFL team's while playing in the same size arena as an NBA team.
Know thy self,
know thy enemy.
A thousand battles,
a thousand victories. - Sun Tzu (500 B.C.)
Not to mention the fact that hockey has virtually no national TV exposure, a MUCH smaller following, little ESPN-type reporting until the playoffs, mostly foreign players that don't resonate with most Americans.
From an entertainment standpoint for the fan attending the games, hockey very possibly is equal to or greater than hoop. But from a national exposure standpoint, it ain't even close. People tend to think that bringing a team here is somehow mostly about entertaining local fans, but the fact of the matter is the effort is more about national, even international exposure for the city and bringing investment here in its various forms. Hoop is going to be a far better thing for the city.
Well, crap.
Saw the new Hawks jerseys in the paper today, and I like them quite a bit, except I'd make the "OKC" logo on the chest a little smaller.
at this point in the process, I can only assume it was a typo and they meant to say "cram"...
I thought it was a bit big on the jersey too.
bri comment on "compensating for something" in 3...2....
Well, crap.
The Blazers' staff at the time insisted it was true.
The logo would *never* have passed muster in the NHL. Why? Because Chicago's Bill Wirtz would have screamed bloody murder at the idea of a team called the Redhawks. He'd done the same thing 25 years earlier when Kansas City's owners were contemplating merging Kansas and Missouri references and calling the Scouts the Mo-Hawks.
I'm actually more willing to believe the NHL Redhawks rumor more now than a year ago. That NHL ownership group was led by Clay Bennett, who apparently didn't do his homework on the NHL name/logo issue then and obviously hasn't learned anything about logo design since.
For me that hindsight came when Dan DeVos tried to move the Kansas City Blades. Even with the promise of far better hockey and an affiliation with the Stars lined up, he couldn't get past Brad Lund's propaganda machine feeding half-truths to the Blazer's rabid (and stupid) fanbase and the media. The City had a good process to determine who was going to get the lease at the new arena. The Blades' lease was more professionally developed and offered more to the City than did the Blazers, but Lund knew how to play the game, and his Legions carried the day. By the time DeVos got the balls to address the B.S. being spewed from the Blazers' camp, it was too late and he came off sounding like a whiner. That episode proved to me that OKC did not care to pay even a little more money for a hockey product of better quality. Their price-point was fixed.Also, OKC was feeling pretty confident about getting one. It was a shock to some of those people that we didn't get it. I was all for it at the time, but in hindsight it was pretty fortuitous that we didn't.
Going back to Bennett's "NHL NOW!" bid, it wasn't bad. If the NHL was determined to add four teams, OKC would have gotten one, but as usual the NHL did not follow their own rules regarding the expansion process. The new arena funding, a requirement by the NHL, was not secured in time in either Columbus or St. Paul, but the NHL repeatedly extended the deadlines. The NHL's reason for eventually rejecting OKC was their lack of TV market size. Bennett's reaction, understandably, was to ask why wasn't that a fact in eliminating OKC in the preliminary stages. After all, it wasn't as though it had changed. It's clear that OKC was being held out as the #5, to be used only if the other two markets didn't get their act together, but no one knows how much longer the NHL was going to extend the process.
Ironically, the NHL did follow one of their rules early in the expansion process, one that they probably should have ignored. Paul Allen was in the middle of buying the Seahawks, but wanted to drop an NHL team into Portland's Rose Garden. He requested an extension until he could divert his focus from the Seahawks deal, and the NHL said no.
As Stafford Smythe once said, "Hockey must be a great sport to survive the people who run it."
The Oklahoma City Blazers of the 1990's could not have done a worse job with their accounting if they had kept their ledgers on Big Chief tablets...
Sorry to offend anyone here but I've always viewed Brad Lund in a negative way. He was bent on bringing low end sports to OKC, so he could make money. I'm all for people making money but not in spite of reality. Remember his Bullfrogs thing? It seemed like he was always arguing for a lesser quality of sport simply because it fit his price point in ownership.
Know thy self,
know thy enemy.
A thousand battles,
a thousand victories. - Sun Tzu (500 B.C.)
He's never really been an owner though. Sure, I guess Funk's given him a small piece of the Blazers, but it was Horn Chen's money that started the team and the original six 1990s CHL. I left this out of the story above, but what sealed the deal for the Blazers getting the new lease was Chen selling to Funk. Chen was the Blazers' weakest link in getting the lease, because he was as an out-of-town owner whom very few people have ever seen. Seriously, the guy has owned (and folded) a CFL team and over a dozen different minor league baseball and hockey teams, yet a Google Image Search turns up nada.
I don't like Lund either, but damn if he didn't pull off a hell of a campaign against DeVos. Has he finally given up on bringing the MLS to OKC?
The Oklahoma City Blazers of the 1990's could not have done a worse job with their accounting if they had kept their ledgers on Big Chief tablets...
Fixed.
Well, crap.
No, I think it's JM that makes the "overcompensating" jokes.I thought it was a bit big on the jersey too.
bri comment on "compensating for something" in 3...2....
"If you don't become an actor you'll never be a factor" - Lupe Fiasco
Duly noted...
The Oklahoma City Blazers of the 1990's could not have done a worse job with their accounting if they had kept their ledgers on Big Chief tablets...
Those are pretty sweet logos for a Triple A team. Thank goodness that they finally put "City" back in the name though. About three years ago, they sent me a questionaire about the branding and names. One of the questions was about adding City back to the name and if you liked any of the older names better. I LOVE the 89ers, so I was all for that, but I really like this new design. Good job guys!!!The Redhawks fared a little bit better with their logo redux, I think.
There's a whole other story there that was never reported.
Well, crap.
Do tell...
Know thy self,
know thy enemy.
A thousand battles,
a thousand victories. - Sun Tzu (500 B.C.)
Oh I don't doubt it. I can only imagine the pressure certain city council members put on Glenn Deck to accept a proposal so devoid of actual content while so full of factual errors it looked like it was generated as a high school class assignment. I still have html copies of the lease proposals and Deck's report recommending the City enter into an agreement with the Blazers, if ya want them. It's an interesting read. Basically, the Blazers offered more money per game game on the lease (IIRC, they tried to renegotiate it down almost immediately after signing, while not adhering to the ticket prices stated in their proposal) and grossly inflated their projected cash flow to make themselves more appealing.
Last edited by mfosterftw; 9/16/2008 at 10:47 PM.
The Oklahoma City Blazers of the 1990's could not have done a worse job with their accounting if they had kept their ledgers on Big Chief tablets...
Nah, it's in the past. Let's just say it made me think differently of some people in town. Some other people, important people, still hold a grudge over that episode though.
Well, crap.
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