"Thunder" chosen as Portland franchises team name

[DiamondThief]

Portland's AFL team announced this morning on its Facebook page that the name "Thunder" has been selected as the expansion team's new team name.

The announcement comes after five weeks of consideration featuring many suggestions and fan votes. Last week it was announced that Thunder -- along with Enforcers, Growlers, Sasquatch and Stomp had made the final five.

The Portland Thunder name announcement comes just a day after the AFL released its 2014 regular season schedule.

The team has updated its twitter handle to @pdxthunder and its facebook page to facebook.com/PDXThunder

From the Portland Thunder's Facebook page:

[Kasey]

this is from the league's website:

PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland's Arena Football League team announced today it has decided the name of its franchise. The team, which will begin play in the Moda Center in March, will compete in 2014 as the Portland Thunder. The name was chosen out of hundreds of unique fan entries.

"We appreciate all of the support we've received from our fan base and new season ticket holders," said Owner Terry W. Emmert. "We wanted to choose a powerful name that will define our team and the attitude of our franchise. We feel our fans can be proud of the name Portland Thunder."

Prior to today's announcement, the Portland Thunder accepted team name suggestions from the local community, new season ticket holders and local schools through its "Name the Team" contest. As the first fan to submit "Portland Thunder" as his entry, Seth Johnson of Portland has been declared the winner of the contest. Seth will receive a pair of season tickets to watch the Portland Thunder live in action all season long.

The Arena Football League also released the 2014 regular season schedule yesterday, announcing the Portland Thunder will kick off its inaugural season at the Moda Center on Monday, March 17th when they take on the San Jose Sabercats. Season tickets are available for purchase starting as low as $99 by calling 503-773-4AFL or by visiting PortlandAFL.com.

Team President Jared Rose indicated that the franchise would be releasing further Portland Thunder branding elements, such as logo and team colors, in the near future.

[Kasey]

here's the story from wikipedia regarding the World Football League's Portland Thunder (previously Portland Storm) in 1974-75:

The Portland Storm was an American football team based out of Portland, Oregon, playing in the World Football League. When the World Football League was created in October 1973, the Storm was the original New York franchise. When the Boston Bulls merged with New York to become the New York Stars, the original New York entry's draft picks were eventually relegated to Portland. They were the first major league football team based in Portland. They played at Civic Stadium (now known as Jeld-Wen Field).

Portland's original owner, Houston accountant John Rooney, soon dropped out of the picture. By March 1974, Bruce Gelker, a former football player and owner of several Saddleback Inns, was named the new owner of the fledgling team. Gelker originally sought a team in Mexico City, which proved to be unfeasible. After approaching officials in Salt Lake City, he settled on Portland. The Storm hired Ron Mix, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, as general manager and Dick Coury, an NFL assistant with the Denver Broncos, as head coach. Before the season, Canadian businessman Robert Harris bought controlling interest, but Gelker stayed on as team president.

The Storm was the last WFL team to be organized, and as a result had mostly rookies on their roster. Among the standouts was running back Rufus "Roadrunner" Ferguson, ex-CFL and Detroit Lion quarterback Greg Barton, and linebackers coach Marty Schottenheimer (later a successful head coach in the NFL) and Bruce Bergey, brother of Cincinnati Bengals-Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Bill Bergey.

In the first half of the season Portland played poorly, going 1-8-1. The Storm won their first game when they beat Detroit in the ninth week. Originally a Wheels home game, the contest was moved to London, Ontario. The team improved during the second half of the season, thanks in part to several NFL players cut during training camp that September. Among the new signings were Ben Davidson of the Oakland Raiders, and Pete Beathard, who had been cut by the Kansas City Chiefs. With the stock of veterans, the Storm won six of their final 10 games. One of those wins was a 26-21 upset of the powerful Birmingham Americans.

The team was in trouble off the field as well. They only drew 14,000 fans per game. Additionally, an onerous lease with Civic Stadium rapidly drained the team of cash. By the middle of the season, Harris was so short on cash that he persuaded the Detroit Wheels to move their game to his hometown of London, Ontario. The players went the last few games without being paid, and reportedly they had to depend on sympathetic fans for food. They were forced to move their final home game, against the Florida Blazers, to the road due to the poor attendance, and only played after Harris guaranteed them $50,000. The money never arrived.

The team finished the season with an overall record of 7-12-1, tied with Houston-Shreveport for 8th place in the 12-team league and seemingly qualifying them for the playoffs. However, league officials decided to reduce the playoff field to six teams--without telling anyone with the Storm. Soon after, the IRS slapped a $168,000 lien on the franchise. The Portland Thunder took the Storm's place in 1975 and lasted until the entire WFL folded halfway through their second season. The Thunder's office in downtown closed in October 1975.

[newellbrian]

Hate the name, it has nothing to do with Portland. I understand it may have been from a team in the past, but it's still horrible.

[Brian]

I say it's about darn time they named the team. I know some don't care for the name because they feel it doesn't represent Portland or and it's Oklahoma City's basketball name. I think this team can make it their own.

Kudos to Angi for breaking this news here although I hope you were at lunch!

[SurferGirl]

It will grow on people when they get used to it.

[DiamondThief]

Thanks to Kasey for adding those articles!

Brian yes I was on lunch at the time!