River Bandits Name Replaces Swing of the Quad Cities
After two months of voting online for one of six team-name finalists, fans decided it was time for the River Bandits to return to the Q-C.
Main Street Iowa co-owner Dave Heller unveiled the team name and logo in front of media and front office staff gathered Thursday evening in the Mediacom Lounge at Modern Woodmen Park.
"The people have spoken very, very forcefully," Heller said.
According to Heller, 51 percent of fans voted to bring back the name that was attached to the team from 1992-2003. The name was changed before the 2004 season to corresponed with the grand opening of a new stadium design.
Slightly different than the previous Bandits run, this time "Quad Cities" will precede the team name instead of "Quad City."
Runner-up in the voting was the Channel Cats at 30 percent. Fans had the option to bring back the Swing, but only 6 percent of voters supported the former moniker. The Talons, Current and River Eagles each garnered fewer that 6 percent of the votes.
The primary logo of the new River Bandits is different than the old red-kerchief-over-baseball design, but still offers some nostalgic symbols. Instead of the baseball wearing a red kerchief, it's a gray and black raccoon.
Peering over his triangular mouth covering, the masked raccoon is holding a baseball in front of the backdrop of the Centennial Bridge.
"We wanted a logo that was unique to the Quad-Cities," Heller said. "We wanted the bridge that unites the cities in the logo, and we wanted to bring back the very popular bandana."
The main colors will again be red and black, with accents of gold and gray available for alternative variations. Heller said after viewing 10 to 12 different logo designs, this was clearly the best.
Francis Santaquilani of FSDesign and Todd Radom of Todd Radom Design collaborated to develop the logo.
Main Street Iowa vice president Kirk Goodman understands the popularity of the old logo, but said a change was needed.
"We want to show the community that this is a new identity. This is a whole new thing," Goodman said. "We still did our best to honor the old logo."
The design to appear on the team hats and jerseys will be slightly different. They are expected to be unveiled next week.
River Bandits T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts already are available in the team store.
"It was important to us in selecting the logo that we had something that was very kid friendly -- something kids would like, something adults would like and something that gives us an opportunity to go a number of different ways in the future," Heller said.
Heller said no additional research was needed to change the name back to the River Bandits since the trademark was still owned by Kevin Krause led Seventh Inning Stretch and was included with Main Street Iowa's purchase of the team.