NBA.com steals OKC team's 'Thunder'

When the NBA posted the 2008-09 season schedule, they may have revealed a clue to the long-anticipated name of Oklahoma City's new franchise.

Wednesday, August 6th 2008, 2:36 pm

By: News 9


By Rusty Surette, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY - When the NBA posted the 2008-09 season schedule, they may have revealed a clue to the long-anticipated naming of Oklahoma City's new franchise.

On Wednesday afternoon, users who clicked on Oklahoma City on the schedule page were directed to www.nba.com/thunder. The link pulled up a "page not found" message.

The page http://www.nba.com/schedules/?team=thunder also directed users to the SuperSonics results from last season. Later Wednesday afternoon the page was change to read "Oklahoma City Thunder Schedule."

Team spokesman Dan Mahoney said the link was a glitch on the NBA's site and the team had notified the NBA of the mistake.

"There's a lot of names floating out there," Mahoney said. "Lots of rumors."

Thunder was one of the six names the NBA registered as trademarks for the team earlier this month.

News9.com's executive producer Sally Allen said she has own idea of how the mix-up could've happened.

"I suspect a few weeks ago, someone assigned the developer to make this page and the developer said, ‘Where do you want me to hyperlink Oklahoma?'" Allen said.

Mahoney did not confirm the Thunder was the official team name, instead he said fans should know there are still a number of options on the table.

"You're going to hear a lot of rumors and a lot of names thrown around," Mahoney said.

The Oklahoma City Bison, Barons, Wind, Energy, Marshalls and Thunder were registered, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office database. The names were registered on July 21.

The team is said to officially announce its name and colors sometime in the next few weeks.

logo

Get The Daily Update!

Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News 9 delivered right to your inbox!

More Like This

August 6th, 2008

March 22nd, 2024

March 14th, 2024

February 9th, 2024

Top Headlines

March 29th, 2024

March 29th, 2024

March 29th, 2024

March 29th, 2024