Cleveland’s baseball team is changing their name to the Guardians, which means new apparel is on its way. On Wednesday, Zach Meisel of The Athletic announced that team merchandise will go on sale at the Progressive Field team store on Friday at 9am local time. Other retailers can start selling gear next Tuesday.
It was also reported that same day the team will transition all of its digital and social media platforms to reflect the new team name.
This week it was announced that the Guardians settled a lawsuit filed by a local roller derby team with the same name. The roller derby team said there cannot be two “Cleveland Guardians,” but according to the Associated Press, the two sides announced an “amicable resolution.”
Both teams will operate under the name “Cleveland Guardians.”
Cleveland used their old name for over a century, but announced last year they would be moving to a new name because it was considered insensitive to indigenous peoples.
In 2020, owner Paul Dolan said, “We’ll be the Indians in 2021 and then after that, it’s a difficult and complex process to identify a new name and do all the things you do around activating that name.”
At the time he added, “We are going to work at as quick a pace as we can while doing it right. But we’re not going to do something just for the sake of doing it. We’re going to take the time we need to do it right.”
That name ended up being the Guardians and now we know the date they make the official change is Friday.
Cleveland is not the only professional sports team to change their name because it was deemed offensive, the Washington Football Team changed their name before the 2020 season and has narrowed down the list of potential permanent replacements to three.
