In Vancouver, Mike Beamish examines of the trademark battle
over the franchise's name. Grizzlies owner Arthur Griffiths
applied for the trademark on June 30; attorney Keith Spencer, who
specializes in trademark registration, applied for rights on June
13. Griffiths' group was unaware of the rival application until
a few days before the August 11 unveiling of the name and logo.
When Griffiths' people found out, Spencer "delivered his ransom
note": 11 Grizzlies T-shirts, 11 autographed basketballs and four
season tickets as a "goodwill gesture in relinquishing his
group's application." Griffiths' people refused. Spencer has
since signed over his pending trademark application to another
attorney for the sum of C$1 (VANCOUVER SUN, 9/15).
TICKET-PRICES: The Grizzlies "non-premium" seats in its new
GM Place arena, scheduled to be completed in time for the
Grizzlies debut, range in price from C$15 to C$60. The Grizzlies
top club seat is C$93.40. The Grizzlies are about halfway to its
15,000 season-ticket commitments required by the end of this year
under the terms of its expansion agreement (Chris Young, TORONTO
STAR, 9/15).
UNIFORMS: Raptors officials will have at least two road and
home uniforms when they open in '95. An NBA source says one
uniform will feature the team's "primary logo, and that others
will include one or more of the team's secondary marks which have
yet to be unveiled" (TORONTO SUN, 9/15).
