Minor League Baseball Rebranding

Minor League Baseball has a long history of quirky and unique brands. From the long-lasting Toledo Mud Hens to the newer Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, the minor leagues have always drawn fans with interesting nicknames, matched only by the ridiculous promotions and themed nights that bring fans back each season. In reality, how much does a nickname or rebrand help bring in more fans to a team? We looked at MILB's top 25 list for merchandise sales from 2013–2018 to find out if any of these new brands are creating more than buzz.

One of the things you will quickly find when looking at recent trends in Minor League Baseball branding is a growing frequency of ridiculous team names. The sod poodles, jumbo shrimp, trash pandas, rubber ducks and more have all joined the ranks of minor league teams in the last five years. One thing each of these teams has in common is a single idea factory. A small company in San Diego, California, named Brandiose has helped build and rebuild team branding for more than a third of current Minor League Teams. Starting with a rebrand of one team, The West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx (Now Jackson Generals), Brandiose began a complete reimagining of branding in baseball. Today you can see their creativity, influence and distinct styling in more than 100 teams throughout the tiers of Minor League Baseball.

The update that started a branding revolution.

Of the 27 new teams that have appeared the highest merch-sales list since 2013, 17 first made it on the list during a year of rebranding or an inaugural season. Many of the most talked-about teams from the list, including the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Hartford Yard Goats and Frisco RoughRiders, were Bradiose projects. It may not seem like an update would do much, but in the hyper-competitive world of Minor League Baseball where teams are allowed to act a little crazy to pull just a few new fans, create a little buzz or simply go viral, it seems as making a brand change is a valid path as opposed to the storied names of Major League Teams that can cause an uproar when even small changes are made.

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Ex. This small change in the Phillies logo from 2019 had fans crying foul for looking "too much" like a famous football team's iconic branding.

Source: Chris Creamer's SportsLogos.net

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One question here is why these changes have had such an impact? Normally, people are adverse to change. However, something about the nature of impermanence the Minor Leagues provides along with the playful, fun, and many times ridiculous rebrands help these new team names quickly connect with fans. Overall, it's as easy to classify these changes as breaking them into their respective tiers. Higher-level (AAA) teams with large fan bases seem to take the more professional route when making brand adjustments. Many of these (Louisville and Nashville come to mind) have even outdone their Major League counterparts. The lower leagues (AA and A) are where we are seeing more of this unbounded creativity blossom.

In 2015, Ken Babby's Fast Forward Sports Group made their second foray into the Minor League Baseball world with their purchase of the Jacksonville Suns. Babby had acquired the Akron Aeros three years prior and worked with Brandiose to revision their branding into the Akron RubberDucks. He brought the learnings from that rebrand to Jacksonville where he and the Brandiose team completed reimagined the Suns into the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp for the 2017 season. While there was some push back from the community on the changing the moniker that had been in place since 1962, the results were hard to argue. In the three seasons before the name change the average attendance for the club was around 4,300. In the three years since the change the average attendance has increase nearly 20% to 5,056. The Jumbo Shrimp have also been on MILB's top merchandise seller list since the name change. The biggest surprise is they don accomplished these feats without recording a winning season since the change.

Since 2018, ten additional teams have either joined or changed their name within the minors. From the Mighty Mussels in Fort Myers to the PaddleHeads in Missoula the creativity and to some ridiculousness of Minor League Branding is in a golden age.

Sadly, this bastion of creativity may be taking a major hit in 2021. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement in Major League Baseball had put up to 42 minor league teams on the chopping block. The situation had become so dire that it was even taken up and debated in the U.S. House of Representatives with Minor League Teams seen as an important feature in the economies of smaller cities in the United States. As of July 22, the two parties are back at the table, but with the loss of an entire season, things are not looking up for the Minor League Teams. Let's hope for creatiivities (and merchandising team's) sake that even if these contractions happen we will continue to live in the Golden Age of new teams. Heck someday we may even have a chance of a new a unique name in the Majors? We've heard Cleveland might be looking for a new name. Why not take a cue from the Mighty Mussels and use a famous dish from the city? Cleveland Pierogis or Cleveland City Chickens both have a nice ring to them.