Should Cleveland Browns rebrand and maybe rename?

The Cleveland Browns came into existence in 1944 but didn’t start playing until 1946. Since then, the city of Cleveland has fully embraced its team. Despite the countless losing seasons this team has endured, FirstEnergy Stadium always seems to be filled to the brim.

When it’s game day, the city is painted brown and orange. It doesn’t feel like too much of a stretch to say that the Browns brand is one of the more recognizable in the country, maybe even the world. When people see the orange helmet, they know right away that it’s the Cleveland Browns. That said, perhaps it’s time for the Browns to go through a rebrand.

When you take a look at the team’s brand, there are a lot of dawg elements. The most obvious one is that one end of the stadium is called the “Dawg Pound.”You could say that the “Dawg Pound” is the nickname for FirstEnergy Stadium and nobody could refute it.

In addition to the “Dawg Pound”, the Browns have an actual dog representing the team It’s a bull mastiff named Swagger Jr., better known as SJ.

SJ is not the first bull mastiff the Browns have had. Before SJ, the Browns had Swagger. Swagger led the Browns out from their tunnel and onto the field from September 2014 to October 2019. Unfortunately in February 2020, Swagger passed away after a battle with cancer and a stroke. He was just 6 years old. Swagger Jr. made his debut at First Energy Stadium on November 10, 2019, against the Buffalo Bills.

Those aren’t the only two dog elements within the brand of the Cleveland Browns. The Browns have an alternate logo, which should really be the primary logo, which is a dawg head.

Then, there’s the primary mascot for the team. His name is Chomps, and he’s a dog.

So clearly, there are a lot of dawg elements associated with the Cleveland Browns. It makes you wonder, should the Cleveland Browns go through a rebrand and become the Cleveland Bulldogs or Bull Mastiffs? The pieces seem to be there. Again, you’ve got the Dawg Pound, Swagger and Swagger Jr., the dawg head logo, and Chomps the mascot.

Not to mention the fact that when you look at a lot of the fans in FirstEnergy Stadium, many of them are wearing dog-related items. These items include dog heads, dog bone necklaces, dog snout headbands, and many others.

If the Browns were to actually go through with this rebrand and become the Cleveland Bulldogs, it would certainly take the city a while to get used to it. Similar to what happened when the Cleveland Indians announced that they were going through a rebrand of their own to become the Cleveland Guardians. After some time, the city would embrace the new name.

Since the Browns have so many dog elements attached to their brand, it might make sense for them to go through a rebrand and become the Cleveland Bulldogs or the Cleveland Bull Mastiffs.