Citation :
The Name Game became one of the most popular such enterprises in league history, generating more than 2,000 entries. The final top-10 list was dominated by animal names: Beavers, Bobcats, Dragons, Grizzlies, Hogs (Toronto's nickname is Hogtown), Raptors, Scorpions, T-Rex, Tarantulas, and Terriers. On May 15 the PBF finally had an identity. No doubt fueled by the enormous success of the movie Jurassic Park and the popularity of dinosaurs with youngsters who would grow up to be fans in the target market, the team's new moniker, the Toronto Raptors, was unveiled on Canadian national television. The franchise's logo (the work of NBA Properties) featured an aggressive, sharp-toothed little dinosaur dribbling a basketball. The team colors were to be bright red, purple, black, and "Naismith silver" (in honour of Canadian James Naismith, who invented the game of basketball in 1891). More than $20 million in Raptors gear was snapped up in the first month. By the end of 1994 the logo was hot in the marketplace, and the Raptors, still a long way from their first game, were seventh in the league in merchandise sales. https://web.archive.org/web/2019053 [...] story.html
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