The Cold, Hard Truth of the Rebrand

[QC Thundercats]

This whole debate on the rebranding issue has been getting frustrating, as it seems that people’s stances are starting to become more entrenched, with a mentality of “you’re either with us or against us.” Its good to see passion there, as it shows that people want what’s best for the team. But some posters keep repeating the same arguments or using bad analogies to try to paint the other side as all kinds of backwards and wrong for thinking the way they do.

The thing we should realize is that being a fan of the Charlotte Bobcats and hoping for a rebrand to the Charlotte Hornets are not mutually exclusive, as it is the franchise that we all care about and have invested time, money, and hair follicles to. Its not a black or white issue, but rather one with a ton of gray area. But since this concept seems to continually get lost, the simplest way to convey what I’m talking about is the tried and true Venn diagram:






As you can see, while there are some fans that like the Bobcats name just fine, and there are some people who would only acknowledge the team if it had the Charlotte Hornets name, there is in fact a huge cross-section of people who are both fans of the Bobcats and fans of the idea to rebrand. And most of us in this cross-section of fans are going to continue being fans, whether they are the Bobcats, Hornets, or whatever else they’re called.

What some posters keep getting caught up on though is the “Charlotte Hornets only or bust” crowd. I think we all can agree that these people are lame, stubborn, thickheaded, intransigent curmudgeons who only drink their coffee black and believe that sex is only for procreational purposes. And since most true sports fans are extremely prideful and loyal, we can’t stand such fickle people who only want to cheer if things are a certain way, and aren’t there for the lows as well as the highs. (Also, note the small circle for New Orleans Hornets fans. This shows them as a separate entity, and not part of the cross-section of the Bobcats/rebrand fans. The yellow circle is not what the rebrand people want, we hate that team, don’t want anything to do with them, would never cheer for them, just want them to give up the name. Please don’t mention them again in any counterarguments)

The problem is, for the franchise’s health and long term future in Charlotte, this seems to be quite a large segment of the population that can’t be perpetually ignored. It’s easy to just say eff them all, but that’s not a very prudent thing to do in the business world.

So lets make up some numbers to put onto the Venn diagram. Let's say there are 20,000 fans of the Bobcats (including those that also would like a rebrand). This is a nice amount of fans that can fill an arena, although a segment of this group may not be able to afford tickets, or live too far away, or are too busy to attend many games. This can knock the base of fans that can regularly attend to 10,000. Now, as everyone can admit, if the team is a winner, then there is the non-diehard segment of the population who would start to become interested, and that number could swell to say 30,000. But if the team is struggling, those fans will quickly lose interest, and then we’re right back at the start.

Now, lets look at the people who don’t acknowledge our NBA team unless they are called the Hornets. Lets say there are 20,000 of those bastards. If we don’t ever rebrand, they will never become fans of the team (again, I understand us real fans’ pride, and thinking “who cares, we don’t need them”). But if we do rebrand, all of a sudden our base of fans doubles to 40,000. If they become winners, then everyone in the city is now behind the team. If they start struggling again, well this bigger base of fans will still be there, as it logically follows that since they had passion and pride in the Hornets name, they’ll stick with them through the good and bad like in the early days.

The biggest fear of mine, and I’m sure countless others who experienced firsthand the tragedy of losing the Hornets, is for the Bobcats to up and leave Charlotte too. Just hearing rumors earlier this year of Jordan maybe bailing in a few years brought back horrible memories. I don’t think he’d sell, but just the thought of an out of state buyer breaking the lease and moving to Bumfuck Missouri keeps me tense. If we can guarantee tens of thousands more fans just by a simple rebrand, this may be enough to ensure that the Bobcats don’t continue to bleed money and be forced to sell. The popularity of the brand nationwide will also keep our franchise in the top 5 in merchandising, which along with the increased ticket sales, will help our bottom line furthermore, give us more exposure, TV time, advertising opportunities, partnership deals, etc., and allow us to afford free agency signings and not worry so much about staying under the tax threshold.

So yes, the name change of course doesn’t guarantee success, and being a winner under the Bobcats name will bring many fans over. But you also must acknowledge that there is an exponential growth potential of popularity and money that would far exceed the Bobcats’ ceiling if both the name is changed to the Hornets, AND they become a winner. And I feel that potential legacy is what would keep our franchise in Charlotte forever.

[SWedd523]

Not going to argue with you either way but I think you're forgetting the orange section in your scenario. How many of the original 20k will support, and only support the Bobcats? It's a tough question and nigh impossible to answer but I don't think it's safe to assume they'd all stay in the newly doubled 40k.

I'm sure the blue section is larger anyway so it's probably moot, but just didn't want you to miss a fairly important aspect.

10,000 loyal to Bobcats (orange)
15,000 loyalto Hornets (blue)
20,000 combined (purple)

[adam187]

what's funny is that you could put all those circles into a bigger circle called "People Who Hate George Shinn."

[Katmandu]

I think Klan, Taliban or Tumors would be unacceptable as team names. I'm sure there are others. That said, I could care less about what they call the team. I'm really more interested in the product they put on the floor.

[dav7z]

Im so sick of all this crap. If we win people will come . If we don't people wont come . I don't care what logo you use . Like Mustacho said if you get just 2000 season ticket sales requesting the old Hornets and logo go with it . If not just let it die kinda put up or shut up . Im going to back the team either way.

[Mustachio]

Not going to argue with you either way but I think you're forgetting the orange section in your scenario. How many of the original 20k will support, and only support the Bobcats? It's a tough question and nigh impossible to answer but I don't think it's safe to assume they'd all stay in the newly doubled 40k.

I'm sure the blue section is larger anyway so it's probably moot, but just didn't want you to miss a fairly important aspect.

10,000 loyal to Bobcats (orange)
15,000 loyalto Hornets (blue)
20,000 combined (purple)

Thats crazy talk. I love the Bobcats, but am all for the name change. I think you would be hard pressed to find 100 people much less 10k people that would be loyal to the Bobcats brand only.

[BIGCatBobcat]

what's funny is that you could put all those circles into a bigger circle called "people who hate george shinn."

high-yo!!!!!!!!

[SWedd523]

Thats crazy talk. I love the Bobcats, but am all for the name change. I think you would be hard pressed to find 100 people much less 10k people that would be loyal to the Bobcats brand only.

"I won't go back to that George Shinn team!!"

"They left I don't want them back!"

"Change the name to something else, sure, but not the Hornets!"



are just a few of the arguments I can imagine

[JGib23]

Great thread Thundercat as this tries to break down the group from a numbers perspective and takes away some of the emotions that have spilled into the other thread.

My guess on the what the breakdown would be based on Newspaper articles, comments on message boards, radio shows, and newspaper stories. (just my opinion- but I'm trying to be fair despite my bias towards group C)

Group A 0-5% loyal to Bobcats only and would not support this team if it changed to any name other than Bobcats. I think this number is much closer to zero than 5. I think if you are already a fan of this team, a name change won't make you stop being a fan but, there are some that may fall into this category.

Group B 10-15% prefer Bobcats but, would still support the team if it changed names. This group may not spend as much money as they currently do because they may be upset that they wasted money on Bobcats gear. ( the team would be smart to offer a big discount for season 1 at the team store if you trade in Bobcats gear).

Group C 50-60% prefer Hornets but, would still support the team if it stays the Bobcats. Changing to Hornets would inspire them to spend equal to or greater than the amount of money they currently spend on tickets and merchandise. I think this number is much higher based on local radio shows, newspaper polls and message boards. ( the poll in the Observer was 84% favoring the Hornets). A 25 -35% margin of error in the poll is more than a far amount for me to deduct.

Group D 10-15 % Prefer Hornets and will not support the Bobcats. This group has stayed away from the NBA ever since George Shinn took his ball and left and will not give the "Bobcats" a chance. Only the Hornets brand returning will get them back in the arena. ( I think this group is lame but, I do believe they exist)

Group E 10% Don't have a preference at all. They attend Bobcats games but, are fans of other teams and pull for the Bobcats as there 2nd team. Or don't like the Bobcats and come only to see great players or teams ( Heat, Lakers, etc.)

[Jennings]

To get the Hornets name back looks like it would be 3 years before we would even get it. New Orleans will have it at least one more year, then IF we wanted it back it would take us 2 years to get it. Not sure how many people realize that.