PLL
The Premier Lacrosse League has announced the names for its inaugural six teams, and instead of being focused on just one locale, they are "hoping to invoke a feeling of membership that fans from anywhere are invited to," according to Emily Caron of SI.com. The names are the Archers, Atlas, Chaos, Chrome, Redwoods and Whipsnakes, with each being "dubbed with a moniker that denotes the team's intended identity." With the "tour-based nature" of PLL Founder Paul Rabil's brainchild, the league had to "create nomenclature without a home base, with no city or locational identity to connect a team's name to." Rather than search for names that "could characterize one place or community, the league looked to concepts from topography to mythology to match each respective team's chemistry and identity." Rabil said, "With only six teams, if we tie them to cities, we become hyper-localized. So to be tour-based and to become 'national' overnight meant creating team names that don't associate with a specific city." Caron noted each logo is "complete with a team crest." The team name, colors, mascot and emotion are "threaded into a single image" (SI.com, 2/26).
