If there’s a big sports story that has nothing to do with the action on the field, the trial between St. Louis and the NFL’s Rams has to be the biggest story.
A lot of people are talking about money — millions, if not billions, of dollars that St. Louis could get if it wins this lawsuit that by all accounts appears to be going to trial. But a new theory is gaining traction and is seen as a win-win for St. Louis and the NFL, a simple solution actually: give St. Louis an expansion team. Here is the NBC Sports report.
In this situation, St. Louis wins and gets a new team in the NFL, the NFL wins with another team selling merchandise, advertising, profit sharing, the whole nine yards – pun most definitely intended.
I would like to point out that this is exactly how the MLB’s Seattle Mariners were born. Seattle had a team that lasted a year, then they moved to Milwaukee, where they have been ever since. Seattle sued and ultimately MLB said it would expand with a team in Seattle. The Mariners were born and the trial disappeared.
It could happen here. And I must note that the good people of sportsnaut.com make a very good point that 2030 is the earliest date an expansion team can consider expansion. But it is too early to assess the probabilities. However, it’s always fun to think that if St. Louis had a team, what would it be called?
Well, I put my historical knowledge to use and came up with a few that not only sound great, but with the right graphics could make for one heck of a helmet logo.
Before we get to the Top 5, here are a few that I thought of and are totally fine with leaving on my notepad: Monuments – not just for the Gateway Arch, but for the many cemeteries histories of the metropolitan region; Cavemen — Missouri is the cave state and it would be cool to have a name that didn’t end in “s”; Minesweepers — honoring the World War II battleships and the USS Inaugural that once stood on the banks of the St. Louis River and met their demise during the Great Flood of 1993.
In addition, the names of the horses are revealed; they don’t seem to work well with St. Louis and professional football. There’s the Stampede, the arena football team that didn’t last long; the Stallions, who were going to be an NFL team, but we lost that bid to Jacksonville; and finally, I’m not even going to think or consider Clydesdales – they do a great job representing another St. Louis product and don’t need to be bothered.
That said, here it is…
5. Drivers
Not airplane pilots, but riverboat pilots. A nod to St. Louis parked on the Mississippi River with so much riverboat traffic carrying travelers, trade and commerce. I thought about Rivermen, but that doesn’t really say “NFL” to me. There are also the Steamers, but they must remain associated with football.
4. Bombers
It would be a great recognition to the St. Louis builders and developers who have made so many aircraft over the decades, whether with McDonnell Douglas or on the floor of the old St. Louis Arena during World War II. world with aerial gliders. Additionally, names in sports tend to be recycled and the Bombers were once a professional basketball team that predated the Hawks.
3. Knights
St. Louis was built with Catholic roots. You can’t miss it, it’s everywhere. It is important to note that St. Louis is named for the only king of France to be canonized as a saint in the church, that it is the site of the only miracle authenticated by the Vatican in the Midwestern United States, and that The Catholic fraternity for men is that of the Knights. of Columbus. Saint Louis IX also went to war with the armor of knights. Kings could also be a possibility for this reference.
2. BattleHawks
I know, I know we’ve heard and used that name before. Not to mention they didn’t last long either, however, that was because of a pandemic – the BattleHawks were well on their way (if they didn’t in the two home games that they argued) to prove that the NFL made a huge mistake in leaving St. Louis. So I say, why not buy back the name and all the rights to the XFL, because it’s hard to say whether or not they will actually come back, and let the name continue in the NFL. All the logos, helmets and uniform concepts were perfect in my opinion.
1. Silverbacks
This one actually comes from a Twitter suggestion posted in response to the thread I replied to. I suggested that Gorillas, the legendary Phil the Gorilla from the St. Louis Zoo, could be used as a logo, and he has a competitive side similar to football. I admit the Gorillas are the mascot of Pittsburg State University, a rival, I guess you can tell because I went to Northwest Missouri State University, but I’m willing to rely on a team named Gorilla based in St. Louis in case of expansion. the team came together. Think of it like the Cincinnati Bengals. Instead of saying the Cincinnati Tigers, they took a type of tiger and made it their team name – a good idea for the St. Louis Silverbacks.
