California Eagles

The ABA is bringing basketball to my new hometown. The California Eagles announced yesterday that they will be playing somewhere in Ventura County, most likely Ventura, this season but haven't found a home court to play on yet.

Long time readers of the Sports Logo Pundit know that I really don't think too highly of the ABA (read this and this). Why people continue to purchase teams in this league is beyond me. Has there even been one success story as far as ABA teams go? I guess the Arkansas RimRockers moving into the NBDL could be considered a success, but that's one franchise out of 80 that has done well. Other than that most of these teams have been a complete fiasco.

But what about this logo you may be asking. Well, for an ABA logo I find it to be pretty good, but thats not saying much. I don't understand why ABA teams never get involved in the community when choosing a name. Just about every other minor league team when moving to an area run name-the-team contests and promotions. I have yet to see the ABA hold one of these contests. Thus you end up with generic names and logos such as the California Eagles.

I actually know the reason. I shouldn't play stupid. It is so that if this team doesn't get off the ground or has problems mid-season they can move it somewhere else and not have to change a thing about their logo or name or anything. If Ventura doesn't work out then they can move it to Oxnard without changing anything. Then to Santa Barbara if that doesn't work. Then to Rancho Cucamonga if that doesn't work, then to Eureka if that doesn't work and so on and so forth.

But I will be keeping an eye on this team. I most likely will fall victim to one of their games at some point later this year. I'll just have to find the high school gymnasium that they will be playing in.