NBA’s Bobcats start process to change name to Charlotte Hornets
The good news for NBA fans in North Carolina is that they might be well on their way to rooting for the Charlotte Hornets again.
The bad news for those fans is that the team they’ll be cheering for will still be the same one that is currently known as the Bobcats.
Multiple sources are reporting that the Michael Jordan-owned franchise has started the process of pursuing a name change that harkens back to the late ‘80s and most of the ‘90s, when the Hornets sold out 364 consecutive games at the Charlotte Coliseum.
When the team relocated to New Orleans in 2002, it took the nickname too. Two years later, the NBA returned to Charlotte in the form of the Bobcats, but that mascot never seemed to quite catch on with many local fans.
Starting next season, however, the team in New Orleans will be known as the Pelicans. And since the Bobcats name belongs to the league, Charlotte is free to pursue that name. The fact that incoming NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has already indicated his support of such a move should help too.
Any name change for Charlotte’s team probably won’t take place until the 2014-15 season at the earliest.
And, of course, a switch back to the popular logo and teal-and-purple look won’t automatically change the fact that it’s still the same team that has gone a league-worst 28-120 over the last two seasons.
But for the first time in a long time, fans in Charlotte are getting a little good news. Let’s allow them to enjoy it for just a little while.
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