I ask this with no motive other than curiosity. It's just something that occured to me and I thought I'd ask the Burn supporters what they'd think of it. It strikes me as a pretty good idea but I'm sure others will think it horrible. It was this quote that got me thinking ... It seems to me that the logical team for America to want is Dallas because they've traditionally had the kind of demographic in which I suspect they're interested. And they're getting stadium and have a fan base already. It's sounds like a great fit to me. Two problems though: First, would they really want to sustain the Burn as the Burn or would they be more interested in changine its name, image, etc. I suspect they would prefer to rebrand the team to help them appeal to the Latino fan base. Second, as I understand it the Burn have lost a substantial part of that Latino fan base with the move to South Lake. Maybe they'd pick them up again with the new stadium anyway but wouldn't it help if the product were relaunched with a new label? So don't get me wrong. I'm not on a crusade to see this sort of rebranding happen. It just struck me as an interesting possibility and perhaps worth asking about. So what do you think?
The answer is yes, yes, a thousand times, yes. Dallas Burn is one of the worst team names ever invented. Now that Lamar owns the team, pull a page from the Earthquakes and re-brand the team the Dallas Tornado. Right now in the MISL, for example, a bunch of teams grabbed the old trademark from the glory days: Baltimore Blast, St. Louis Steamers, San Diego Sockers, Kansas City Comets, Cleveland Force, etc. And in the A-League, we've got the old NASL names of Portland Timbers, Vancouver Whitecaps, and the Seattle Sounders. Honoring tradition is part of the road to success for sports franchises. Bring back the Tornado. ...And re-brand the stinkin' Metrostars already, too. Bring back the Cosmos. It's a money thing.
you not being a Burn fan, you have no say in this. The answer is simple... HELL NO Keep that sh!t in Mexico. No offense, but as much as I want our Latino fan base back from those damn soccer moms and their stupid ass kids, I don't want some Mexican team coming in and turning this into club America 2. Screw that, then the next thing you know we have all Mexican players too. I don't agree with the Chivas expansion either. And if they both were to happen in Texas (chivas in Houston), then we might as well name the state New Mexico. Please don't take this the wrong way, this has nothing to do with Mexicans, I wouldn't want an English club to come into our country and buy a team and re-brand them and I love the EPL. It's just wrong, it's our league, some of us (like me) have been with this team since day 1 and we bleed red and black and I (and I think I speak for everyone who bleeds red and black) don't want some chum coming in and changing everything just for the sake of money. I'd rather play in Shitlake for another 5 year, you heard me.
I wouldn't mind going to the Dallas Tornado name because it brings back great memories, but KC already has the sky blue color. At a minimum, I would keep the Burn name, jettison the horse logo with something new and as discussed previously here switch to orange and white to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the league.
Keep the name (but if they change it to Diablos or Tornado or something good that's fine). As lame as it is, some people know it. Going to Earthquakes hasn't done jack for SJ attendance or cache. CHANGE THE LOGO. How about a normal black horse on its hind legs. No need for a fire breathing thing. Almost anything would be better. Lose all connection to wasabi. Keep the same primary color scheme. Red top / black shorts. And an orange kit for a 2nd or 3rd uni. If over the years, the Frisco crowd is a sea of Orange, then maybe we can change.
I went over this on another thread, but I guess it couldn't hurt to repeat myself. What many who are not familiar with the Burn situation don't realize is that the Hispanic fanbase, for the most part, is now lost. There will always be a small representation of Hispanic fans at any Burn game, but by building the stadium in the farthest reaches of suburban Dallas they have made it difficult for many of those fans to be regular attendees. Yes, there is a small segment of the Collin County and Far North Dallas population that is Hispanic, but it is miniscule in comparison to the areas surrounding the Cotton Bowl. As has been discussed by Burn fans and Burn officials, many of those fans were gameday walk up ticket buyers, not season ticket holders. Many walked, rode bikes, or took public transportation to games, this will be a near impossibility in Frisco. People see Dallas and think large hispanic population, perfect for an MFL owner take over. But they fail to realize how the situation has changed since the days of the Cotton Bowl. This is now a white, suburban kiddie based team. Which is fine and good, I plan on bringing my white, suburban kiddie to as many games as Mommy will allow. But it is no longer the team with the Hispanic flair that it once was.
I don't care if HSG rebrands the Burned or not. I think Lamar Hunt owned the Tornados so he probably owns the trademark. I don't believe it will necessarily spell success for the franchise. I have a hard time believing there are thousands of people in North Texas sitting around saying, "I would go to more soccer games if the Burn changed their name. Dallas Tornados...NOW I'm a fan!"
Someone back me up here, what is everyone's fix on changing the name? I mean it doesn't even make sense from a business stand point, most people don't even know who the Burn are, now you want them to know the Tornados? You're going to confuse the sh!t out of already soccer-dumb people. They think the Sidekicks and the Burn are the same. Screw changing names and colors, lets change whats on the field.
I agree. This team is the Frisco Burn. I think ideas for a team that would be focused on the Latino fans, should be a new team, and far-thinking individuals will not try to change the Frisco Burn, which will be a solid North of Dallas franchise. So save the good ideas for the new team in Dallas.
Sad but True. To gain a potentially larger audience this team had to shed an audience. But this club will need a re-branding as its brand is now mud.
I just checked the availability of the domain dallastornado.com at namesecure.com and it is registered to CS Anderson Enterprises. Does anyone know if they are affiliated with HSG? However, dallastornado.net, .org, .biz, etc is available. So is dallastornados.com, et al.
Re-branding... I grew up in Dallas watching the Tornado (was actually a ball-boy when they played in a stadium near downtown-name escapes me, think it was built during the WPA years, anyway, it was torn down many, many years ago) so going back to the Tornado would be fine. But the 'Burn' - well, you have the NBAs Miami 'Heat', so I guess it's OK. And if you sat in the Cotton Bowl for the afternoon games during WC '94, the name 'Burn' DOES have special meaning. PLEASE loose the fire-breathing horse. As for changing colors (orange, whatever) I'm all for that just to distance ourselves from so many other teams' uniforms/colors.
They have more important things to worry about than re-branding: A. Finding a coach B. Putting a crediable team on the field for 2004 C. Opening a new stadium in 2005
Northside, You may be right when it concerns those that have actually paid attention to the current situation. But I think the move to Frisco will open the eyes of thousands who have never even bothered with the Burn in the past. I'm just thinking about how well the Frisco Roughriders AA team has drawn this season and how many of those "fans" ever looked at a minor league box score in their lives. It's just another place to take the kiddies, they don't care about Mike Jeffries or 4-4-2 vs 3-5-3 or if Jason Kreis is too old or how we are going to use or allocations. The hope is that a good portion of those kiddies turn into life long, passionate Burn fans who like to sit with the Inferno and raise hell.
American soccer legend, Lamar Hunt has purchased the dwindling Dallas Burn and has pumped SOCCER MANIA into Frisco! With a major overhaul of the players, exciting new orange uniforms, and a return to a legendary name, the Tornado will once again sweep into North Texas! That's right! The Dallas Tornado live once again, and it's in YOUR home town of Frisco, in the brand new Tornado Stadium- built by the legend Lamar himself! So don't hesitate! Call 1-800-tornado and storm into Tornado Stadium with the legendary Dallas Tornado! All references to the Dalls Burn will be mourned along with the lost Latino fan base. © 2005 Dallas Tornado
Tornado Stadium....but I thought they were going to sell the naming rights for $20 million? Besides, we already got a Tornado in Frisco, the Junior League hockey team is the Texas Tornado. Hmmm.....is there any other term for cowboy that hasn't already been used.....Cowboy, Ranger, Maverick, Roughrider.....Ranch hand??? That's it the Frisco RanchHands......sweet.
As usual, it's left to me to be one of the few and the proud people using their friggin' brains around here. And as such, I have only one thing to say: GROW SOME FRIGGIN' BALLS ALREADY I can't believe how many of you are running around like a bunch of gutless, snivelling schmucks, whining about how the Burn need to change their name because of one bad season. You embarrass me as a fan of this team. Like it or not, the name "Dallas Burn" has tradition, it has history. You people would've changed Manchester United's name when they got relegated to the Second Division in the '70s. And West Ham? "Well, this team needs a fresh start. 'Hammers' is associated with losing." If you see a picture of Ante Razov kissing the Dewar Cup after the Fire won the Open Cup two weeks ago, consider this: That trophy that he's kissing has the name of every winning team on it -- including "Dallas Burn." And you people who are getting all orgasmic about "Dallas Tornado" -- are you kidding me? Lemme tell you what "Dallas Tornado" is associated with: crap attendances that make the 2003 Dallas Burn look good and crap soccer on the field. Sure it's got nostalgia going for it, but that's about it. Never mind that HSG doesn't own the name anymore, never mind that it would get HSG sued by that junior hockey team that's playing in Frisco. And never mind that it's ancient history. There are college students right now who weren't even born when the Tornado died. The Tornado played their last season when I was a 10-year-old in Houston. I'm 32 now. (Which probably goes a long way in explaining why the Clash-to-Earthquakes change hasn't really gotten a lot of traction.) I'm tolerant of a great many discussions in this forum, but I'm very intolerant of this one. QUIT TRYING TO TAKE AWAY MY TEAM, DAMMIT! DALLAS BURN FOREVER! RED AND BLACK FOREVER! But I am wondering when gotyourback is going to suggest in the Revs forum that that team needs to change its name to "Tea Men."
We play in a crap stadium, we have dumbas_es for administration, our product on the field is useless, and all anyone can bitch about is the team name or the color of the uniforms.........GROW UP! Bitch about something that is going to make the BURN better, not some cosmetic effect that will appease the senses but do nothing to get us better soccer!
As a fan of MLS in general, and not the Dallas Burn in particular, I can understand that the fans would very much want to keep the team name. But it sure would be nice to have one orange primary jersey in the league in 2005, be it in Dallas or in Cleveland.
Uh to answer the original question about America from the MFL, NO FREAKIN WAY!!! Screw America, the MFL(your league SUCKS), and any other club south of the border that wants to buy the Burn. If they bought the Burn, sucklake would be great compared to the new ownership.
No rebrand - no need to waste 8 years of history A few things here. First, if you're not a Burn supporter, or someone willing to support the Burn (or, theoretically, whatever the team in Frisco is going to be called), pi$$ off. I doubt you would take kindly to such a suggestion about your team, either. If you are a current Burn supporter, why throw away the first seven years because of the latest year? KC didn't do that when they had their crap seasons. Neither did San Jose - they did theirs for different reasons. Colorado didn't, Metro didn't. DC sure as hell didn't. Why should we? Think in the long term - fifty years from now. Why color the history of the Dallas team with a name change? Frankly, I don't think it comes anywhere near worth considering. There is a championship and lots of great soccer associated with the Dallas Burn - one of the better teams in MLS history. The best? No. We're not DC, Chicago or LA. But you compare season to season, and Dallas is better than almost all of the rest of the teams. Colorado, KC, even San Jose -- they have all had much worse runs than Dallas, and KC and San Jose have won the MLS Cup. Dallas Tornado, huh? I think not. First, it has nothing to do with the past history of this team. Second, its history is one of a dead league - one that MLS is trying desparately to avoid being related to in any way. As for the hispanic fans - don't think that since they are gone, they are gone for good. More than any other group of Burn fans, they respond to the product on the field. The team sucked this year, so they left. Or didn't make the effort to come out at all. Improving the team will go a long way towards fixing that. Second, addressing pricing and atmosphere issues will help tremendously. It doesn't take much, and as I understand it, HSG et al wants them back and will work towards those things. Third - location. I was talking to some friends of mine who came to their first game last Saturday. Had a great time. And understand, this family are soccer-holics. He coaches skills clinics for a local club team, the kids both play, etc. You know what he said to me about Southlake? "I don't mind going out there, but it will be a lot easier for me to get to the Frisco stadium." Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Chicken little, the sky is not falling. (Unfortunately, on the field anyway, it already fell...)
It amazes me that you can't see the cynical humor in my obvious bull*#*#*#*#*# post of reinventing the Burn. Why are you so selfish that you can't promote discussion that personally offends you? Are you THAT shallow that you intentionally attempt to 'steer' BigSoccer posters and Dallas Burn fans away from 'YOUR sandbox, YOUR pail, YOUR shovel'? This is an open forum for free discussion of all that concern the Dallas Burn, not a place where an egotistical, self-centered, "Dallas Burn's First Fan" and Moderator has 'sole rights' to the direction of legitimate discussion. El Jefe, get past your selfishness and fully participate in your passion for the Burn by SUPPORTING efforts to the inclsuion of ALL that healthily promotes the team. And that INCLUDES the Inferno. The current leaders are proactive, and your too busy catering to your own selfish needs and views to help. This is the main reason why I've backed off the extremely proactive role I had with the Inferno. The team, and the fans; especially dedicated fan groups - don't need selfishness and two-tier leadership. Grow up.
Re: Brimstone Regarding MalaMadrid's post - Agreed, agreed, agreed, agreed. Somehow I don't think that the Brimstone Cup would maintain any of its aura with the Dallas Tornado. And whoever is suggesting orange - why don't you go and make YOUR team orange. We're not here to satisfy your interior decorating fetish.
I could maybe see the humor if people (including yourself) hadn't been beating this drum since about June. At some point, some things just lose their humor. And yet, despite my proclamation that I'm very intolerant of this discussion, this thread has remained open. Imagine that. It's not like it would've been terribly difficult for me to close this thread. As for the rest of your post, if you've got issues with me, then I'd appreciate the courtesy of an e-mail, phone call, or whatever. Believe it or not, I'm a pretty self-aware guy and chances are, I might actually agree with you on some of them. But I'm not terribly interested in having a public forum on BigSoccer be the first place I hear from you about them, and I don't think it's terribly constructive.