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The early days of the MLS are filled with embarrassing moments, but none may be as embarrassing as a franchise being forced to change its name because of an electronics store.
Before they were Sporting Kansas City and before they were the Kansas City Wizards, they were the Kansas City Wiz. In hindsight, that entire 1996 MLS first season was nothing but awful team names and brutal jerseys that we now look back on fondly for those very reasons.
Apparently neither the owners of the Kansas City nor the league did any research about the Wiz. If they had watched a New York Yankees game, they would have seen advertising for an electronics store brand known as The Wiz, or technically, Nobody Beats the Wiz, on the outfield wall.
Founded in 1977, the electronics chain clearly had the rights to the name. If anyone had bothered doing even the slightest amount of research, the franchise would have discovered that fact and not used the name to begin with.
The Wiz were forced to change their name to the Wizards, an improvement but not by much. Ironically, Kansas City could have probably waited out the Wiz for the name. The brand filed for bankruptcy protection in 1998, nearly going belly up before being rescued by Cablevision.
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