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It's been announced today that the Phillies' Double-A affiliate, the Reading Phillies are undergoing an overhaul to their brand. On Saturday, November 17 the successful minor league franchise will have a new name, logo, and uniform.
The Phillies have been in Reading since 1967 which is one of the longest a team and a minor league affiliate have stuck together. Many times, teams will switch it up. Just look at the Mets and the Blue Jays who swapped homes for their Triple-A clubs in Las Vegas and Buffalo a few weeks ago.Brand changes aren't uncommon lately. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the home of the Triple-A Yankees affiliate just had a fan vote on a new team name and that's due to be announced soon as well.
Part of me hates it. The Reading Phillies have always been the Reading Phillies to me (or the R-Phils). I'm a traditionalist and the R-Phils are a huge draw with a newly rennovated ballpark and it just doesn't seem broke enough to need a fix. Scranton's stadium was a mess and needed a year to be rebuilt and could use a change so that made sense.
On the other hand, part of me likes it. The minor league teams should have an opportunity to sort of stand on their own a bit without being named after their parent club. I go to the Trenton Thunder as do lots of fans who may or may not be Yankees fans simply due to the fact that they're close by. So it's kind of nice to have the Reading brand stand on it's own.
