The Philadelphia 76ers are shaking up the identity of their NBA Gatorade League club, as the Delaware 87ers will become the Delaware Blue Coats.
Major changes are on tap for the current 87ers, who are set to leave the Unviersity of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center after this season. The team will move its home games to Wilmington, playing at a new 76ers Fieldhouse that will be built in the city.
With that change in arenas will come a change in branding. Beginning with the 2018-19 G League season, the 87ers will become the Blue Coats, giving them a new identity as they prepare for a new era. More from The News Journal:
The revised Blue Coats moniker is to recognize the 1st Delaware Regiment soldiers who were instrumental in the American Revolution and distinguished by their blue garb. They were referred to as the Delaware Blues.
Furthermore, the Delaware Blue Coats’ logo also pictures a Colonial figure on horseback meant to portray Caesar Rodney. In 1776, Rodney rode his horse from Dover to Philadelphia and cast Delaware’s tie-breaking vote for the Declaration of Independence.
“We’re building what we feel is going to be the best G-League facility throughout the country in Wilmington with Buccini Group and, of course, working with the mayor and the governor,” said 76ers president of business operations Chris Heck, a Wilmington resident.
“We thought that warranted a new name, a new look, a new feel, a name that reflected Delaware, both on the surface as well as the deeper meaning of Blue Coats and the affiliation with Caesar Rodney. But we also wanted to express to everybody this was an extension of the Philadelphia 76ers and the Declaration of Independence which, through Delaware’s eyes, Caesar Rodney brought the two together.”
This will be one of the notable branding changes to take place around the G League for the 2018-19 season. In one case, a completely new identity has been introduced, as the Washington Wizards have unveiled branding for the Capital City Go-Go ahead of that expansion team’s debut in the G League.
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