If the Sacramento Kings leave their current city for Anaheim, they will likely change their team’s name to the Royals, we have learned. The issue of the Kings moving has been a touchy subject here at LBS. We’ve posted criticisms of their current ownerss and joked about how many places they’ve moved. The threat of the team leaving for Anaheim is a legitimate one, and the Maloofs have until April 18th to inform the NBA of their plans.
If the team does leave for Southern California and move to Anaheim, there would be competition and confusion because Los Angeles already has a hockey team called the Kings. News 10 in Sacramento discovered that the Kings filed applications for patents and trademarks on March 3rd for exclusive rights to the “Los Angeles Royals” name and the “Anaheim Royals” name. They also registered the domain name losangelesroyals.com.
Such a rebranding of the team would make sense for two reasons should they move to Anaheim. One, like we said, LA already has a Kings franchise. Two, before moving to Sacramento, the franchise was originally named the Rochester Royals and later the Cincinnati Royals — so there are historical ties to the name. It’s possible the Kings are just taking steps to ensure a smooth transition should they move, but this seems to be a pretty strong indication that they may be moving to Anaheim.
