Maine Red Claws renaming G-League franchise Maine Celtics

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2021/05/maine-red-claws-renaming-g-league-franchise-maine-celtics.html



Maine Red Claws renaming G-League franchise Maine Celtics


Updated 11:26 AM; Today 11:26 AM




The Maine Red Claws mascot performs a trick during the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks in Boston, Saturday, March 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)AP



By Brian Robb | brobb@masslive.com



The Maine Red Claws, Boston’s G-League affiliate, will be known as the Maine Celtics going forward, according to a release from the franchise.

The team announced the change along with a new logo on Monday morning. The Celtics purchased the franchise in 2019 and have used it as a G-League affiliate since 2012.

“When we purchased the Maine franchise in 2019, we immediately made that organization a part of our family,” Celtics President Rich Gotham said in a statement. “The decision to rename the team to ‘Maine Celtics’ is the next step in that evolution, and a nod to our diehard fan base, which extends throughout the great state of Maine.”

The Maine Celtics did not participate in the G-League bubble this past season in Florida but the entire league is expected to resume normal operations with a 50-game schedule for the upcoming 2021-22 season.

“I’m as excited about this change as I was when we started the Maine Red Claws back in 2009,” said Maine Celtics President Dajuan Eubanks added in a statement. “Directly aligning our franchise name with the iconic Boston Celtics brand creates a new era of heritage building for basketball here in Maine.”

The Maine Celtics will continue to play at the Portland Expo, the team’s home arena since the franchise was founded in 2009.


Bob
MY NOTE:  It should also be a good recruiting tool for potential roster additions.  You can say you're "a Celtic" and not a "Red Claw".  Any Boston players who get sent down won't feel like it's a demotion too.

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Too bad; I really liked the idea of a dunking lobster.

One of the better logos in sports, too.


Right up there with the Albany River Rats.

I couldn't resist posting this.

I'm personally grateful to BobH for starting this thread, simply because I find just about anything else going on with the Celtics right now about as boring as it gets. After a season of constant injury, fan and media finger pointing, and speculation about things that may have nothing to do with reality, I'm over this season. Time for baseball.

So the one thing I currently find interesting about the Celtics, with the possible exception of RWIII, is the debate over the Maine Red Claws/Celtics name change.

https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/the-boston-celtics-changed-the-maine-red-claws-name-and-people-hate-it-01f6febs6qwz

Latest NBA Leads
The Boston Celtics Changed the Maine Red Claws' Name and People Hate It
By Stephen Douglas
May 24, 2021, 12:02 PM EDT

RIP Maine Red Claws. The Boston Celtics have officially renamed their G-League basketball team the Maine Celtics. People hate this and they should. Red Claws was a perfectly good name with a logo we haven't seen a million times. They had a fun minor league identity. No longer.

To make things more confusing, they kept the lobster and made it green. This is an abomination. One of the worst (inconsequential) problems in all of sports is the number of teams with super boring names. There is no good reason to rebrand the Red Claws.

This does nothing for the Celtics. It just makes the G-League team more boring. Anyone who doesn't think the logo is headed for a clover while the lobster will be further relegated to a mascot and eventually vanish has their head in the sand. The Boston Celtics do not care about seafood-based sports teams.

"The Boston Celtics do not care about seafood-based sports teams."

Definitely the best line of that article.  Also probably true.  


Bob


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