The Missouri Mavericks are tweaking their identity, as the team will soon become the Kansas City Mavericks. The change will be effective after this season.
The branding change will see the Mavericks leave some current uniform elements in place, including their color scheme. However, the switch from Missouri to Kansas City does further connect the team to Independence and the rest of the Kansas City area.
What team officials are making clear is that the switch from Missouri to Kansas City does not reflect a broader change, such as a switch in arenas or leagues. The Mavericks will continue to play at Silverstein Eye Centers Arena, and will still be a member of the ECHL. More from The Kansas City Star:
[General manager Brent] Thissen said that the organization’s research revealed that 78 percent of ticket sales came from people in Kansas City, both Missouri and Kansas. Furthermore, 57 of the team’s sponsors have locations across the state line and four of the organization’s pillar partners have their flagship locations in Kansas.
“The first thing we wanted to do was to really unify the entire city,” Theissen said. “We have had an amazing amount of support from sponsors and people located in Kansas and now we can help identify our team with their brand. It’s not just a Missouri product. As much as we are in Missouri, we have a lot of fans coming from across the state line and throughout the Kansas City region. Look at how many youth teams play in Kansas, and they’re wearing our logo over there. It just makes sense. It’s not a Missouri thing at that point. It’s a Kansas City thing.”
All that said, Thiessen made it clear that the Mavericks are committed to the city of Independence, where they call Silverstein Eye Centers Arena home. He quickly swatted away any lingering rumors that the Mavericks will be changing anything but its name. The team will retain its colors and logos. The only revision will be inclusion of a ‘KC’ mark on the Mavs’ secondary ‘M’ logo.
“There are a lot of rumors out there that we’re not going to be playing in this building and we’re going to move to the Sprint Center or we’re going to the AHL. None of those have merit,” he said. “There is no truth to any of that. We will be playing 100 percent in this building, 100 percent in the ECHL. We are proud of our home. We’re working with the city on this building. We’ve already started our season ticket renewals.”
Other team officials have made similar remarks. In a statement by the team, Mavericks owner Lamar Hunt Jr said “We are very content and pleased with our franchise membership in the ECHL and are proud to call Silverstein Eye Centers Arena our home. Our desire is to unite all fans, no matter where they come from, in the greater Kansas City region. This name change is reflective of all of the previous professional ice hockey teams who have been proud to call Kansas City their home. We now have set our sights on being the longest active professional ice hockey team in the history of Kansas City. We follow, specifically, the legacy of the Kansas City Blades who played for 11 consecutive seasons at Kemper Arena.”
