Did Cleveland’s MLB ownership group really check out if the name was available.
You wonder if anybody in Major League Baseball’s Cleveland organization is asking the question, “who goofed, I must know” because the newly rebranded Cleveland Guardians baseball team is being sued by the Roller Derby Cleveland Guardians. The Roller Derby team has been called the Cleveland Guardians since 2014. The Cleveland baseball team announced the rebranding of the franchise in the summer. Major League Baseball signed off on the Cleveland team name change. Someone did not do very basic research, so it seems, like going on a search engine and seeing if there was a Cleveland Guardians business.
Even the Roller Derby team owners want to know who goofed? The Guardians Roller Derby business in filing the lawsuit stated. “It is inconceivable that an organization worth more than $1 billion and estimated to have annual revenues of $290 million plus would not at least have performed a Google search for ‘Cleveland Guardians’ before settling on the name.” The Cleveland Guardians baseball team’s lawyers said in response, “we have been and continue to be confident in our position to become the Guardians. We believe there is no conflict between the parties and their ability to operate in their respective business areas.” One of the Guardians Roller Derby business lawyers did say the baseball did offer them four figures which could be up to $9,999.99 for the name. The Cleveland franchise has had numerous names including the Lake Shores, Bluebirds, Bronchos and Naps. Nineteenth century Cleveland teams were called Forest City, Blues, Babes and Spiders. The team was named the Indians in 1915. The team name will now become museum piece. More than likely the Cleveland team will be called the Guardians in 2022 but the baseball franchise and MLB should have done some research in choosing a new name, it is so simple to do a search.
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