“Take me down to the Panther City, where the turf is green and lacrosse is gritty.”
After several months of speculation and trademark filings, the NLL announced that the new Fort Worth, Texas franchise will be called the Panther City Lacrosse Club.
The name is a deviation from the traditional city and nickname combination, with the newest NLL franchise choosing to take a page out of the PLL’s book and call themselves the Panther City Lacrosse Club. If you didn’t already know, “Panther City” is the nickname given to the town of Fort Worth, so the name is more than fitting.
“We are excited to bring the National Lacrosse League and world-class professional lacrosse to north Texas, the great city of Fort Worth and Dickies Arena,” Panther City President and CEO Greg Bibb stated. “As a Fort Worth resident, I’m proud to serve as a steward of this team, a community asset for the city and region to enjoy, support and rally around. For nearly 150 years Fort Worth has proudly owned the Panther City moniker. By naming the team the Panther City Lacrosse Club we unabashedly lean into that history and celebrate our thriving city and the people who make the 13th largest municipality in the United States feel like the best small town in America. Today we proudly announce to the world, we are Fort Worth, we are Panther City.”
Bibb was joined by Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, Dickies Arena President and General Manager Matt Homan, NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz, and Panther City Lacrosse General Manager and VP of Lacrosse Operations Bob Hamley for the organization’s launch event where the team’s name and brand were announced.
“The leadership of the Panther City Lacrosse Club took the time to uncover the right look and feel for their brand, and the result is unique and on message not just for their fans, but for all of lacrosse as well,” Sakiewicz said. “This selection, and all the events surrounding it, continue to show why we as a league and Forth Worth as a city are so bullish on the team’s inaugural season next year. We know this will be the model for how to launch a franchise that is reinforced with the unveiling today.”
The franchise will play its games starting in the 2021-22 season at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. The 14,000-seat arena opened its doors in November of 2019 and is also home to the WNBA’s Dallas Wings.
The trademark for “Fort Worth Panthers” was filed back in February, leading to suspicions that an NLL franchise was headed to the Panther City. More trademarks for “Panther City Lacrosse Club”, “Fort Worth Stampede” and “Fort Worth Herd” were also filed prior to the league’s announcement in July that Fort Worth, Texas had been awarded and NLL franchise, but the latter names appeared to be smoke and mirrors.
In terms of color scheme, the team chose to go with purple, red and gray, joining the San Diego Seals and Halifax Thunderbirds as the third expansion team in four years to feature the color purple in their logo. The logo itself features a panther face with a red star and what appears to be the top of the Alamo shaping the top of the logo’s crest.
What do you think of the 14th NLL franchise’s name, logos and colors? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
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