The Washington Wizards basketball team were once called the Washington Bullets. Why the name change?

Question

I heard that the team's name was changed because Washington wanted to change the negative stereotype of # 1 Murder Capital City in the nation, or something like that. Any ideas?

Answer 1

In 1995, owner Abe Pollin announced that the franchise was to be renamed because Bullets carried violent overtones, which he wanted to repudiate,[1] especially since Washington was experiencing some of the highest homicide rates in the country at the time. A contest was held to choose a new name and the choices were narrowed to the Dragons, Express, Stallions, Sea Dogs, or Wizards.[2] On May 15, 1997, the Bullets officially became the Washington Wizards. The change generated some controversy because Wizard is a rank in the Ku Klux Klan.[2] A new logo was unveiled and the team colors were changed from the traditional red, white and blue to blue, black and bronze, the same colors as the Washington Capitals, a hockey team also owned by Pollin (the Capitals were traditionally red, white, and blue and would return to that scheme in 2007). That same year the Wizards moved to the then MCI Center, now called Verizon Center. The Verizon Center is also home to the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League, the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the Georgetown Hoyas men's college basketball team.

In 1998, they became the brother team to the WNBA's Washington Mystics.

Answer 2

That is bascially the reason.  NBA officials and Government Officialls representing D.C. felt it was an innapopriate way to represent the town because it represents violence etc.

Answer 3

you pretty much answered your own question.

Shoulda went back to the capitals

Answer 4

As a Wizards/Bullets fan, I can give you the answer. In 1995 Israeli President Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli radical opposed to Rabin's signing of the Oslo Accords. Bullets owner Abe Pollin was a very close friend of Rabin and often had him stay at his home when Rabin came to visit Washington. Rabin's death upset Pollin deeply and he decided to change the teams name. It had nothing to do with violence in D.C. There was plenty of violence and shootings in D.C. long before Pollin decided to change the teams name.

Answer 5

That is what I have always been told.

Check out the ESPN article to tell you more.

(More reliable than Wickipedia)