There once was a time where the only place you could get a Dodger Dog was at Dodger Stadium – that was it – period. And then somewhere along the line someone came up with the idea to open a Dodger Dog store along Universal City’s popular City Walk. And then lo and behold, as soon as the Dodgers moved into their beautiful new spring training facility at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona in 2009, you could get the culinary delight that Vin Scully has touted for over a half-century there as well.

You can now add Oklahoma City to that growing list.

On Wednesday, the Dodgers new Triple-A affiliate Oklahoma City RedHawks were officially renamed the Oklahoma City Dodgers – Dodger Dogs and all.

Oklahoma City residents will now be able to enjoy a Dodger Dog at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark – home of your Oklahoma City Dodgers.

The name change really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, especially when you consider that the Oklahoma City minor league franchise that was founded in 1962 (the same year Dodger Stadium opened) was recently purchased by Mandalay Baseball LLC, of which Peter Guber is Chairman of the Board of Directors and Managing Partner. Guber, as you may recall, is a partner of Guggenheim Baseball Management, LLC which owns the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is also an icon in the motion picture and television industry, a best-selling author and in addition to the Dodgers, is also part owner of the Golden State Warriors of the NBA and the Los Angeles Football Club of newly created Major League Soccer, which is set to kick-off (literally) in 2017. Guber is also part owner of several other minor league baseball teams.

Peter Guber with fellow Dodgers co-owner Magic Johnson.
(Photo credit – Wesley Mann)

Needless to say Guber knows a thing or two about marketing and is well aware that using the historic Dodgers name will be a marketing gold mine because of its name recognition and merchandising potential. Gone are the days when professional franchises had only one home uniform, one road uniform and one hat. In today’s multi-billion dollar baseball industry, many teams have three or four ‘alternate’ uniforms and hats – and this doesn’t even include batting practice uniforms and hats. It is now to the point where loyal die-hard fans wanting one of everything will have to take out a second mortgage on their homes to afford them. And don’t think for one second that this didn’t come into play when Guber and the other new OKC franchise owners were deciding on what to re-name their new team.

Part of smart business marketing is supply and demand and the Dodgers new Triple-A affiliate didn’t miss a beat when they unveiled the full line of OKC Dodgers gear in their team store shortly after announcing the team’s new name.
(Photo courtesy of okcdodgers.com)

As with anything of this nature, there will undoubtedly be a few RedHawk fans who are opposed to the name change and to the commercialization of their home town team. But the bottom line is that it is this type of branding and marketing that will generate more revenue for the franchise to pay for things such as stadium repairs and other improvements, not to mention the tremendous economic impact it will have on the local community as well.

GO OKC DODGERS!