Naming a professional sports franchise after a popular movie is a risky move, but it’s one that has paid off for the Toronto Raptors.
The franchise was mocked by fans across North America for many years, as a lot of them found the name ‘Raptors’ to be a cheesy choice for a sports team. However, the fans, players and front office staff have done an incredible job changing the culture and the way the team is perceived over the past few years, especially now that they’re playing for their first ever NBA title. But let’s go back to when it all began and take a look at some of the names that were in the running for Toronto’s basketball franchise.
Fans were able to send in their ideas for the team’s name through a contest and after about a month of collecting ideas a full list was revealed.
There were some extremely interesting names on the long list like the ‘Toronto Sauras Rex’ and the ‘Toronto John Candy’, which is probably why the list was cut down to 10 final team names.
Here are the final options that were in the running to become Toronto’s basketball team’s name and we’re happy the Raptors ended up winning the contest.
As we all know, Vancouver’s basketball franchise ended up becoming the Grizzlies, which eventually moved to Memphis, while the Bobcats was put into use nearly 20 years later when the Charlotte Hornets became the Charlotte Bobcats from 2004-2014.
(H/T Twitter/g_meslin)
