Rights to the Hornets Brand?

[ckad79]

One cool things that seeing all this Hornets merchandise for sale at the Bobcats' team store does, is that it puts to rest a lot of the rumors about the old brand and what if anything Charlotte would have rights to or could use. I had kept hearing from those against the brand change, that New Orleans owned all rights to the Hornets brand and even if Charlotte got the name back. it wouldn't have any of it's history, etc to use. At the time, that sounded like a bummer. 

 

Obviously, if the team has the rights to sell merchandise with Muggsy and LJ on it or even use the old logo on hats, that is not the case. Of course, the online shop is not selling products featuring ex-players who spent time in both New Orleans or Charlotte like Baron Davis or guys exclusive to New Orleans like Chris Paul. Still, this goes to show that Charlotte does have some rights to part of the Hornets history. From the beginning, I felt the NBA would split up the history books. Glad they are.

 

This is cool... maybe we can hang that old attendance banner up again? Actually there is a lot of cool things the franchise could do, now that we know the Hornets aren't basically "starting over" with their history.

 

[OchoNueve]

I just hope we have some sweet murals of old players when we walk in the arena in 2014 season

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

We own the name, what we don't own is the records, players, etc..

 

However, if we really wanted to we could acquire all the records and stuff like that. I think it would be a nice gesture to acquire the records and stuff that were exclusive to Charlotte, i.e.: Mugsy, LJ, Zo, attendance records, playoff appearances etc.

[dpanther69]

We own the name, what we don't own is the records, players, etc..

 

However, if we really wanted to we could acquire all the records and stuff like that. I think it would be a nice gesture to acquire the records and stuff that were exclusive to Charlotte, i.e.: Mugsy, LJ, Zo, attendance records, playoff appearances etc.

Teeray stated in another post that he read that New Orleans and Charlotte would be able to share the Hornets history. I am not sure of his source but maybe he can relay bthe source to confirm.

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

Teeray stated in another post that he read that New Orleans and Charlotte would be able to share the Hornets history. I am not sure of his source but maybe he can relay bthe source to confirm.

If Benson complies, I'm sure they could work something out.

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

Be nice if the Pelicans sent Grevias Vasquez to us instead of out west.

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

To be honest, we deserve every record that was accumulated in Charlotte. We fans were there for that attendance record, those retired Hersey's, and those playoff performances.

New Orleans can keep all the records (which were few) that they accumulated in New Orleans, but we deserve the ones that we fans helped set in Charlotte.

[PantherAZ]

Three things...

A. Honestly, does any of this really matter? If the Charlotte Hornets had won an NBA title (or even EC title) I could maybe see it. I supported them that team for every win and died a little for every loss. Will do the same for this one. That's all that matters to me.

B. Anyone that claims to know the technicalities of that is incorrect. This has never happened before in professional sports. Jordan, Benson, and Silver have not worked all that out yet. Needs time.

C. As much as I hate the Saints, all things New Orleans, and always have hated Benson, he seems to be very accomidating with this situation and seems to want to separate the Pelicans from all things Hornets and Charlotte anyway. It seems like he wants the Pelicans to be an expansion team of sorts.

I get the feeling everyone is going to be happy.

[carolina-chuck]

I cant wait to get me a Al Jefferson/Cody/(Wiggins/Parker/Smart/Randle/etc.) Hornets jersey, and getting a Kemba/MKG Cats jersey when it goes 50% off next year.

[teeray]

We own the name, what we don't own is the records, players, etc..

 

However, if we really wanted to we could acquire all the records and stuff like that. I think it would be a nice gesture to acquire the records and stuff that were exclusive to Charlotte, i.e.: Mugsy, LJ, Zo, attendance records, playoff appearances etc.

 

As Proudiddy said this is kind of unprecedented with the exception of the Cleveland Browns who moved away then they got a new expansion team and named it the Cleveland Browns.  That was different because there was a lawsuit when the Browns attempted to move and eventually the owner, Art Model, was allowed to move the team but was forced to relinquish name, colors, logos, and history all of which were kept in a trust.

 

But as I understand it teams do not own the players.  The NBA does.  So we have every right to honor former Charlotte Hornets, or even hang jerseys in our rafters.

 

I don't know about records and such and how that would be handled but my guess is that will be negotiated by the NBA, Hornets, and Pelicans.

 

I had read on twitter the day the Board of Governors voted, that it was likely that the history of the time the Pelicans were in Charlotte would likely be shared.  I was on my mobile and couldn't link it.

 

This article on Deadspin is the only article that I can find now that mentions it.

 

http://deadspin.com/the-charlotte-hornets-are-coming-back-824093267

 

The name change will not go into effect until the 2014-15 season, to give the team time to design new uniforms and logos, and print all that new merchandise. It's not known whether Charlotte will return to the teal-and-purple color scheme of the original team, but it's probably a safe bet. It's also likely that Charlotte and New Orleans will "share" the history of those original Hornets.

 

[ckad79]

I guess my point is, if Jordan and his team has no rights to the Hornets brand... how are they allowed to sell merchandise featuring ex-players and logos? Unless any team can technically sell any merchandise from any other team at their official store? Possibly.

[teeray]

I guess my point is, if Jordan and his team has no rights to the Hornets brand... how are they allowed to sell merchandise featuring ex-players and logos? Unless any team can technically sell any merchandise from any other team at their official store? Possibly.

You probably need an attorney to decipher all of that. But as I understand it we now own the rights to the Hornets name and Benson relinquished that when he changed names.

But to answer your question, I don't really know. I mean as far as I know we don't own the rights to the Cougars but we have used their throwback jerseys from time to time.

[Carl Spackler]

Otherwise, Gerald Wallace is the Charlotte Hornets' all-time leading scorer and the Hornets' all-time playoff record is 0-4.

[The_Cannon]

It is a difficult situation and definitely new ground. I know when the Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City they took all the records Conference Championships with them and that when Seattle was trying to get a new team essentially everything would stay in Seattle. But this is a little different because we are getting our original team back. I honestly can't see why NOLA would want to keep any of that because they are trying to essentially start a new franchise. I could only see NOLA putting up a fight if the Hornets had won a championship.