Earlier this year, the New Orleans Hornets announced that they would be changing their name to the New Orleans Pelicans for next season. The franchise was formerly the Charlotte Hornets from 1988-2002 until moving from Charlotte, North Carolina to New Orleans, Louisiana. In the wake of the move the City of Charlotte was awarded an expansion franchise, known as the Bobcats in 2004.
The Bobcats name has been criticized right from the start, as it appeared to be a name that was very self-serving for the team’s founding majority owner, BET president and owner Robert L. Johnson. For many it appeared that Johnson was naming the team after himself. However the story wasn’t all bad as Johnson became the first African American to have majority ownership of a team in one of North America’s four major sports.
In 2010 Johnson sold the team to Michael Jordan, who is the first former NBA player to own a team.
The Bobcats have also struggled on the court, making the team a laughing stock in NBA circles and causing it to be difficult for Charlotte basketball fans to identify with the Bobcats as “their team”. The team has just one playoff appearance in nine seasons, and failed to win a playoff game, being swept by the Orlando Magic. In 2011-12 the Bobcats posted a 7-59 record, setting the record for worst winning percentage in NBA History.
Reports have now surfaced that with New Orleans changing their team name, and the fact that Robert Johnson is no longer involved in the ownership of the Charlotte Franchise, Jordan and the current ownership group are attempting to secure the rights to the name “Hornets” and return that name to Charlotte’s NBA franchise. It has been speculated that the change of the name to Hornets could be a proverbial turn of the page on those poor results, and re-identification with a franchise, that although never won a Championship, had far better on court results.
The Hornets name is also deeply aligned with Charlotte’s own civic history. The city is nicknamed the “hornets nest,” and has been since the American Revolution. During the war, British General Cornwallis occupied the city for a time, but he was driven out by the citizens of Charlotte and reportedly called the city a “Hornet’s Nest” as he left. The citizens at the time took the insult as a badge of honor and still take pride in it, as the police in the city continue to wear a patch with a hornet emblazoned upon it.
While this is unlikely to happen overnight, as NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver, who replaces Commissioner David Stern in February 2014, has previously stated that it would take at least 1.5 years for any name change request to be approved by the NBA. However it does appear that the groundwork behind such a request is being laid, and that the NBA will once again have the Charlotte Hornets as one of its member franchises in the not too distant future.
Now the question becomes, will they bring back the teal uniforms?
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