A member of the Swift Current Indians front office is calling the organization’s decision to change its name proactive instead of reactive.
On Thursday, the baseball team announced that it would be changing its team name in the 2017 season in an effort to be more culturally sensitive.
“Things have changed. This is a different time and I think, I guess from an organization’s perspective, that’s not for us to decide in terms of sensitivity or the political correctness,” Harv Martinez, vice-president of baseball and senior advisor with the Indians baseball club.
“If there is a demographic, if there’s a group of people…and I’m not talking just specifically about our aboriginal people, I’m talking about people who are concerned about that name, about that brand, then we have to listen. Our job is to find as many people and get as many people into the bleachers as we can and if we don’t, then we aren’t going to be around for very long.”
READ MORE: Swift Current Indians to change team name by 2017
The club’s board of directors has been considering a name change for the team since 2015.
However, Martinez said earlier discussions began when the team came back from its hiatus in 1986.
“When it re-established itself in ’86, there was discussion around at the organization’s table as to whether or not that was the right fit anymore,” Martinez said.
“Finally, we just got to the point where we said it’s time to do it, it’s the right time to do it, regardless of what happens with the season and lets push forward and see what happens. It’s the right time.”
Martinez said the Indians were playing as early as after the Second World War, around 70 years ago.
There are different stories about how the name was chosen, including an affiliation with the Cleveland Indians.
“And that’s probably where things began, that there was an association, that it was kind of used as a minor league team before minor leagues were formalized,” Martinez said.
“And it was a team that would travel around during the barnstorming era of baseball where they would go from city to city and town to town and tournament to tournament and play and generate their money that way.”
The baseball club is also using the opportunity to rebrand with the new name. Martinez said Swift Current wants to get the community involved in the naming rights by asking for submissions via local and social media throughout September.
A committee outside of the organization will look at the submissions and make suggestions to the organization. The team hopes to have a new name, logo, and colours chosen ahead of the annual general meeting in November.
“Rebranding, it takes time. There’s a process that goes along with making sure that you are doing it for the right reasons,” Martinez said, adding that another challenge to choosing a name is how volunteers can cycle after a few years and might have different ideas about what the team’s name should be.
“There’s a potential that rebranding may be an absolute flop. There’s lots of risks involved when you rebrand an organization that’s been in existence for 70-plus years.”
Martinez said there will be a cost to rebrand, including copyright costs, as well as redoing signage, uniforms and memorabilia.
“We’re going into that with our eyes wide open,” Martinez said.
“Once we kind of weighed out the risk and did some research and felt comfortable that it was doable, that it was a viable decision, I think it gave us a lot more confidence.”
The Indians are not the first team to change a potentially problematic name.
In 2014, the Bedford Road Collegiate in Saskatoon changed its name and logo from the Redmen to the Redhawks.
READ MORE: Bedford Road Collegiate unveils less controversial team name, logo
Balfour Collegiate in Regina also retired the name Redmen in the same year and became the Balfour Bears.
READ MORE: Balfour Collegiate in Regina changing school nickname
“As the organization has evolved and the community has evolved and as society has kind of shifted in terms of their thinking, there’s a lot more awareness of mascot names and nicknames,” Martinez said.
“And there’s a lot more care that’s put into choosing the right name.”
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