The Cleveland Baseball Team
If Cleveland Indians owners really want to get original, they could borrow a riff from the Washington NFL club. When that team announced its plans to change names, it adopted an interim designation for 2020 as “the Washington Football Team,” with plans to settle on a more permanent change after the conclusion of the current season.
If owners of the Indians really want to be original – and also guarantee never to offend anybody – they could lift the approach taken in Washington but make it permanent. Simply rename the club “The Cleveland Baseball Team.” That would eliminate the use of a nickname altogether.
Why do that? First, it would be impossible for anybody to be offended. But more importantly, it would be unique. No team in major professional North American sports takes the field without some kind of commonly recognized nickname.
That means the team faces an opportunity to do something both utterly unique and fully attention-getting. Taking such an approach would, in a strange way, be the most novel thing the Indians could possibly do.
Such an action might be viewed as challenging for marketers and merchandisers. But it would be a challenge with unique solutions. Imagine the talk that would ensue with the unveiling of a logo featuring a blank space.