S.I. Yankees Announce New Team Name Finalists

Richmond County Bank Ballpark At St. George.

Earlier this summer, the Staten Island Yankees announced they they would have an online contest to re-brand the team for the 2017 season.

After receiving more than 2,000 fan submissions during their “Name the Team” Contest, the Staten Island Yankees have narrowed the new name of the franchise down to five finalists.

Fans can help select the new team name over the next two weeks by visitingwww.siyanks.com/rebrand. The finalists below are presented in alphabetical order:

Bridge Trolls

Bridge Trolls commemorates the iconic bridges that connect Staten Island, while embracing the kind of wacky names Minor League Baseball is known for.

Heroes

The Heroes honors the civil servants and military personnel of Staten Island and New York who work tirelessly to uphold our American values. 

Killer Bees

Killer Bees pays tribute to Staten Island's musical and cultural impact. Fans will be “buzzing" over our bee-themed promotions!

Pizza Rats

Like Staten Islanders and New Yorkers, these natives are tenacious, enterprising and know where to find the best food in the city.

Rock Pigeons

Another animal synonymous with the city, the Rock Pigeons celebrates Staten Island - known by locals as “The Rock."

COMMENT: The Staten Island Yankees did a good job in creating logos unique to their team, separate from the designs linked to their parent club.

In order to preserve those looks, such as their "SI NY" one that looks like a badge, the team should go with "Heroes" among the five chosen by the fans.

They really should have considered the Americans as the new name in order to keep the uniforms and look that fans have been used to.

It also would have created a new identity from the Yankees and expanding the fan base to those that may not be fans of the Bronx Bombers.

Some of the names in the final five are what you would expect from an online contest, in which people have some fun and make a joke of the proceedings. The same thing happened with the Binghamton Mets, and it created a lot of bad PR.

In the future, when teams want fans to choose a new name for the team, lay out the choices first in order to have some quality control.