Confirmed with Link: Albany Devils moving to Binghamton, NY

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I was hoping they would get a unique nickname but apparently it will be Devils.
Bad marketing move off the bat IMO.

I'm not sure how much better marketing wise it can be to have the AHL team be the same as the NHL team. its immediate recognition...

 

[DatBoyJPP]

Binghamton may be "upstate NY" but it's still in the NYC media market. They get Giants and Jets games over the Bills on tv. It's great brand recognition to keep the name the same

 

[Arturia Pendragon]

They should be the Binghamton Baddies

 

[Davegarri]

The Mets just re-named and re-branded their Binghamton affiliate from the Mets to the Rumble Ponies. Maybe we could take one of the other five finalists.

Bullheads, Gobblers, Timber Jockeys, Rocking Horses or Stud Muffins.

 

[njdevils1982]

The Mets just re-named and re-branded their Binghamton affiliate from the Mets to the Rumble Ponies. Maybe we could take one of the other five finalists.

Bullheads, Gobblers, Timber Jockeys, Rocking Horses or Stud Muffins.

i thought the names were a joke.

amazingly theyre not. wow. holy ****

 

[DatBoyJPP]

minor league baseball has jumped the shark with the names and logos

 

[Satans Hockey]

The Mets just re-named and re-branded their Binghamton affiliate from the Mets to the Rumble Ponies. Maybe we could take one of the other five finalists.

Bullheads, Gobblers, Timber Jockeys, Rocking Horses or Stud Muffins.

Lol from Wikipedia....

The finalists were the Bullheads (for the bullhead catfish abundant in the nearby Susquehanna River), Gobblers (for the rich hunting culture of the area, as well as the turkeys in Binghamton), Rocking Horses (for the Triple Cities' nickname as the "Carousel Capital of The World"), Rumble Ponies (also a carousel tribute), Stud Muffins (for the collections of carousel horses in Binghamton), and Timber Jockeys (for everyone who rides the carousels).

 

[Bleedred]

Lol from Wikipedia....

The finalists were the Bullheads (for the bullhead catfish abundant in the nearby Susquehanna River), Gobblers (for the rich hunting culture of the area, as well as the turkeys in Binghamton), Rocking Horses (for the Triple Cities' nickname as the "Carousel Capital of The World"), Rumble Ponies (also a carousel tribute), Stud Muffins (for the collections of carousel horses in Binghamton), and Timber Jockeys (for everyone who rides the carousels).

Some of these names are actually even weirder than what the Jacksonville, Florida minor league baseball team has changed their name to.

My friend who lives there was telling me they changed the name of the baseball team to the Jumbo Shrimps, effective this upcoming season. He and his girl thought this was hilarious and were laughing about it for a while.

 

[CHIP72]

minor league baseball has jumped the shark with the names and logos

Without a doubt - the Eastern League by itself has some very strange names:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_League_(baseball)

 

[Cupcheck]

I was hoping they would get a unique nickname but apparently it will be Devils.
Bad marketing move off the bat IMO.

It is a horrible decision to keep the Devils name. Binghamton is a Rangers town, it's going to be hard to sell "Devils" gear to Rangers fans. I'm a Rangers fan first but will always support the home town AHL team. That being said, I don't know how much merchandise I will be able to bring myself to buy that says Devils on it. We have a rich minor league hockey tradition here in Binghamton and our own local name that has gone unused for decades "Broome Dusters". (It's Broome County). It should have been a no brainwr to go back to that name. I'm positive it would boost attendance and would be HUGe for merchandise sales. Keeping "Devils" is the worst option out of any for the team.

 

[Devil X]

They will get a new logo. Im trying to figure out how a B will look in the image of the Devils logo.

I agree they are missing a chance to re-brand. I dont think they should keep the Devils name just solely for the fact that its a Rangers town and gear wont sell like it was stated above. Maybe they worry about the move now and the re-bread after the first season there?

 

[tailfins]

thanks to all who corrected me on the Bingo vs. Albany distance. I should have checked.

I honestly thought it was a couple of hours further away.

Hard to complain about business decisions that don't impact the NHL team's competitiveness.

 

[johnny pierogi]

I'm confused...were the Rangers fans in Binghamton buying the B-Senators gear?

 

[debplaceyonice]

I'm not sure how much better marketing wise it can be to have the AHL team be the same as the NHL team. its immediate recognition...

It alienates non devils fans right off the bat.
Instead of picking a neutral team name that flyers/rangers/devils/whatever fans can get under, it makes other market fans immediately not give a crap.

The team in Albany was mismanaged for YEARS.

Incredibly bad marketing, poor community interactions and ticket prices that somehow kept getting even more expensive were big problems. Extra curricular activities they attempted at were just terrible. Attendance is probably about to get a whole lot worse now that this leaked like this.

 

[CerebralGenesis]

I'm confused...were the Rangers fans in Binghamton buying the B-Senators gear?

ya i don't really get it either. I'm not really sure I'd consider binghamton a rangers town considering I've seen only bsens fans there. But like you said, maybe all the rangers fans were buying senators gear?

 

[Better Call Sal]

I'm not sure how much better marketing wise it can be to have the AHL team be the same as the NHL team. its immediate recognition...

Exactly. If anything, it's a smart marketing move.

 

[Cupcheck]

I'm confused...were the Rangers fans in Binghamton buying the B-Senators gear?

Yes people buy the gear, lots of it, the Senators are not a rival of the Rangers, yes they are in the same conference, but they are not a natural rival like the Devils. I equate it to a Yankees/Red Sox rivalry, if a Red Sox minor league team moved here I would never wear Red Sox gear.

You should see our rink when Hartford comes to town, at least 50-60% Rangers gear in the stands. Bsens fans will actually wear their Ranger gear and root for the away team that night (I could never do that, but lots do). It just shows how much of a Ranger town this still is.

I believe there are factors as to why they'll keep the Devils name. The main one being the recent upgrades to the Arena. The Sens main color is red, the Devils are also red. We had new red seats installed a few years back, the scoreboard is red, the paint around the arena is red, it's just easier to keep a red theme. The Dusters colors I spoke of before are yellow and brown, so it would take a face-lift to make that work and that costs money. (the seats would stay, they are waaaaay too expensive to change just for a team color)

The Senators have been here for 15 years, people have adopted the Senators as a favorite NHL team or a second favorite team (like I have). They are the franchise that brought AHL hockey back to this area after the Rangers left here in the 90's, and they brought us a Calder Cup, so there is a natural affinity for the Sens organization. After 15 years the organization has firmly established itself here. All our junior teams are Senators, etc. It's going to be odd to change, and it's going to make it all that more difficult to welcome a natural rival of most people's favorite NHL team. Re-branding from Devils I feel would help ease that transition and sell a hell of a lot more gear.

Hockey fans in this town are very nostalgic, they love to talk about the good old days of the Dusters and Whalers. You will still see Dusters and Whalers jerseys at every game. The Sens did a handful of throwback nights where the team wore Whalers or Dusters jerseys and auctioned them off after, they went for top dollar. I paid a lot of $ for my Whalers game worn throwback. They are missing a golden opportunity in not calling this team the Dusters.

 

[Devils Dominion]

They def should not have the Devils name if they really want the locals to be 100% supporting the team.

But I don't get why Binghamtom is a rangers town.
They left Bingo in the 90s, right?

Do people in Bingo get Devils & Rags games on local cable tv?

 

[devilsblood]

It is a horrible decision to keep the Devils name. Binghamton is a Rangers town, it's going to be hard to sell "Devils" gear to Rangers fans. I'm a Rangers fan first but will always support the home town AHL team. That being said, I don't know how much merchandise I will be able to bring myself to buy that says Devils on it. We have a rich minor league hockey tradition here in Binghamton and our own local name that has gone unused for decades "Broome Dusters". (It's Broome County). It should have been a no brainwr to go back to that name. I'm positive it would boost attendance and would be HUGe for merchandise sales. Keeping "Devils" is the worst option out of any for the team.

I figured this was always an issue in Albany as well. I know I'd be reluctant to find rooting interest in a rivals minor league team.

 

[devilsblood]

They def should not have the Devils name if they really want the locals to be 100% supporting the team.

But I don't get why Binghamtom is a rangers town.
They left Bingo in the 90s, right?

Do people in Bingo get Devils & Rags games on local cable tv?

Because it's in NY.

 

[Devils Dominion]

I figured this was always an issue in Albany as well. I know I'd be reluctant to find rooting interest in a rivals minor league team.

A Devils name may get a few new Devils fans in the Bingo area but if they really want to rally the community and get great attendance they should go with a unique name such as the Dusters.

Just put the Devils logo on shoulder patches.

 

[Devil X]

They def should not have the Devils name if they really want the locals to be 100% supporting the team.

But I don't get why Binghamtom is a rangers town.
They left Bingo in the 90s, right?

Do people in Bingo get Devils & Rags games on local cable tv?

I believe someone from the area said they get MSG and they get Ranger and Devils feeds not Buffalo.

 

[Cupcheck]

I believe someone from the area said they get MSG and they get Ranger and Devils feeds not Buffalo.

We do get the MSG Network. We get all games from the NY Metro area. MSG thinks that because we are "upstate" we are a Sabres market, this is 100% false. Sabres games unfortunately get priority on MSG, then Rangers, then Islanders, then Devils.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Because it's in NY.

If true that's a lame reason.

Albany media and local tv hardly covered the team.

I hope its better in Bingo.

 

[Cupcheck]

If true that's a lame reason.

Albany media and local tv hardly covered the team.

I hope its better in Bingo.

They get good coverage here. It used to be better when we had a very dedicated beat writer but it's decent. Local news always has stories and the paper usually has a write up of every game.

Binghamton really is a great hockey city. Lots of kids leagues, adult leagues, Labatt Blue outdoor pond hockey tournament is in 3 weeks. People support hockey here, an AHL team will not get lost in the shuffle. The area around the Arena has really bounced back in recent years with the addition of a Binghamton University Academic Building, two large student housing buildings within 50 yards of the Arena. A couple breweries, new restaurants, etc. There is also a hotel right next to the rink as well.