Should The Dallas Stars Rebrand Themselves?

There’s a joke among basketball fans about the name of Salt Lake City’s NBA team. The name the “Utah Jazz” is a holdover from when they were called the “New Orleans Jazz” prior to their relocation from The Big Easy. What’s so jazzy about Utah? Skiing isn’t exactly “jazzy” after all.

Still, the name stuck, in part because of its longevity. NHL teams largely avoided the issue the poor basketball team from Utah faces, but one name did stick out.

The Dallas Stars have a modified version of their old name from their days as the Minnesota North Stars. Other Dallas area sports teams, such as the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks and Texas Rangers have very unique names to the Texas region.

Should the Stars change their name and follow suit?

The Dallas Stars franchise name has changed little in their franchise history. Should a new name embrace more of their Texas history?

Before all you Dallas hockey fans freak out, no, there is not a threat of a name change. Considering the franchise name has stayed mostly the same since the franchise’s inception during the 1967 NHL expansion, it’s been around a long time. Think of this as us just thinking out loud and trying to be creative about their marketing.

Luckily for hockey purists, the name seems here to stay. After the move from Minnesota, the name was kept the “Stars” because of Texas’s nickname being the Lone Star State. There’s even a state song about the stars at night in Texas. Of course, the “North” part was dropped, because there’s nothing north about the Southernmost state in the country.

The Stars have also experienced considerable success under the “Stars” name. Mike Modano earned his only career Stanley Cup while in a Dallas Stars sweater, and the team has three Stanley Cup finals appearances with the name. Successful franchises aren’t ones to change their name.

Over the past few seasons, team name changes have become semi-common. That’s due to their historical and former names being looked at in an offensive context. For example, look at Washington D.C.’s NFL team and Cleveland’s MLB team.

Luckily for Dallas, the Stars don’t have that problem. It was necessary for Cleveland and MLB to adopt new identities. Even if the “Utah Jazz” seems weird, it’s not offensive.

When the Dallas Stars underwent their uniform redesign during the 2013-2014 season they added additional nods to their hometown. The biggest example is the prominently placed “D” on their new uniforms. While it looked slightly out of place at first, it’s a reference to Dallas’s nickname as a city as “Big D.”

While the Stars might not embrace stereotypical Texas imagery like cowboys, there still is a lot of Dallas flair in the franchise’s identity. Even if they kept their name from their time in Minnesota they have found a way to make Stars just as much a part of the Dallas community as “Mavericks.” Besides, can we really think of a better name?