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Red Bull New York Red Bulls

Marty Schwimmer at The Trademark Blog brings us news that Red Bull, a company based in Austria that makes and markets the energy drink, is the new owner and operator of Red Bull New York, formerly the MetroStars.

According to an article on MLSnet.com announcing the purchase, there's a footnote on the naming and branding of the club.
The organization has been rebranded as "Red Bull New York," with a new logo, uniform and team colors being installed immediately. While the official name of the club is Red Bull New York, the playing squad will be known as the New York Red Bulls.
Trademark attorney Schwimmer notes that, in the United States, it is very unusual for a major league team to be named for a pre-existing product trademark, although it's a fairly common naming practice in Europe.

In Canada, the naming of sports teams aligned with trademarked products has at least one example, which is a good branding story, too. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation archives, the name "Toronto Blue Jays" was selected in a "Name the Team" contest. Over 30,000 entries were received; 154 suggested the name Blue Jays. Their blue uniforms maintained the tradition of blue attire for Toronto teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team and the Toronto Argonauts football team. It didn't hurt that the team was owned by Labatt, brewers of Labatt Blue (a beer that was named after the Winnipeg Blue Bombers football team.)

For our American and European readers, Canadian football is more like American football than the sport the rest of the world calls football, and which the New York Red Bulls call soccer—much to the chagrin of the new owners.
Posted by abnu on Friday, March 10, 2006 @ 9:52 PM [ + ]

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