Agreement reached on Guardians name

CLEVELAND – If there was any doubt that Cleveland couldn’t take the next step with its historic name change, all those concerns were finally cleared up.

The team announced Tuesday morning that the lawsuit filed by local roller derby club Guardians over the use of that name has been settled and that both organizations will be allowed to continue to be called Guardians.

This will help the baseball ninth go through the process of changing their name from Indians to Guardians, but according to a club source, the organization was not yet ready to do so officially.

The plan was to transition sometime in early November, but the club hit a snag when the roller derby team, which has been known as the Cleveland Guardians since 2013, sued the Major League Baseball ninth in October over the rights associated with the name.

The Cleveland leadership was always optimistic that the matter would be resolved and with the trademark issues now in the rearview mirror, the team can plan how to kick off their new chapter as the Guardians.

In late July, the organization had announced that after months of research, the Guardians name would be the best way to pay tribute to the Cleveland community and the franchise’s history. Nearly 40,000 fans were surveyed and 140 hours of interviews with fans, community leaders, and team leadership personnel were conducted to make the decision.

Cleveland first announced in the summer of 2020 that they would begin discussions with members of the local community and indigenous peoples groups about a potential name change. As a result of that process, the organization announced in December that it was beginning a search for the fifth name in franchise history and the first since 1915.