09-15-2019, 06:49 PMWinter is Coming Wrote:

09-15-2019, 06:21 PMKeygan Wrote: So can SMJHL speak some insight on why they allowed a brand new GM to relocate a team of 45 seasons? @Winter is Coming

Ideally, I think I would have preferred for the team to stay in Montreal. However, during their presentation, Fuzz brought up the issue of Montral having a massive branding issue with those pro Impact and those more so pro Militia. He felt that this somewhat stigmatized the team and even had some negative attachments as a result of it. Nothing seemingly would work with the Montreal branding from his viewpoint and the history of the team is kind of already shot with multiple re-brands. It's not like Kelowna or Detroit who have had the exact same branding since forever. A lot of effort was clearly put into this re-brand, and to outright reject it just because there is no "Montreal" in front of it seems unfair to the work dedicated in this effort and to Fuzz's ability to remove the negative attachments of the Impact/Militia feud.

For me, most of the "pro militia" group are players who played for the Miltia and not the Impact or people that didn't play for the team but disliked that the brand was named after a soccer team. When the Impact was around they had one of the best/active alumni groups in the league and pretty much everyone that played there loved the name and branding. People chirping the brand made for more fun rivalries and shit talk especially when the Impact were consistently winning. The Impact brand definitely didn't taint the team for their players or first-gen rookies.

The history of the team is more associated with the city than it is with the name at this point. I just never understand decisions like this when it comes to teams with a long history behind them.

IMO should've just rebranded back to Montreal Impact or picked a new branding in Montreal. I like the logo and all but I don't really get the "Brand was tainted" way of thinking, the logo right now is a half-assed Impact knockoff logo and going back to the original Impact name and branding or changing to a new brand in Montreal which isn't just a clone of the Impact (without the name) would've been much better and respected the 45 season history of the team more.

Anyway, I like the logo but personally not a fan of the team name.