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Cricket Victoria Apply to Trademark Melbourne Rangers Name
Melbourne Rangers is the leading option for the new name of Melbourne Stars should approval be reached over the coming weeks for the next stage of the troubled privatisation process of the BBL.
Cricket Victoria (CV) has applied to trademark Rangers with the application available to view on the IP Australia website – the government agency that manages intellectual property rights.
Trademark Application
The paperwork was filed on June 4, two days after the news broke of Stars and Melbourne Renegades being merged with CV’s second BBL license set to be sold off in its entirety to a new owner. The application is currently stated as ‘waiting for examination’ with an expected response date of September 3. Any renaming also has to be approved by Cricket Australia.
The trademark would cover a host of uses including playing kit, branded material, digital content and apps.
Background
The Rangers option is a nod to the Bushrangers name that Victoria’s men used to play under in state cricket before it was dropped in 2018. Bushrangers was strongly considered for a return, but CV had concerns about how it would sit now there is also a WBBL side. The re-branded club will also play in Victoria’s navy blue colours.
Research carried out by CV suggested that a full rebranding of the BBL side they will own was required with current fans of Renegades unlikely to support an existing Stars team, but supporters of both more likely to get behind a Victoria-centric outfit.
Other Options
There are two other names in play – Magic and Blazers.
Future of Renegades
There remains a chance that Renegades will still exist for the 2026-27 season in caretaker mode should either the license not be sold in time for the start of the WBBL in October or new owners not be ready for a full takeover – although all options still rely on states voting to proceed.
Reaction to the News
Australian cricket was plunged into chaos last week when news of the Melbourne merger broke on Tuesday evening following a CV meeting where staff were informed of the plans. It led to damage-limitation from both CV and CA over the next 72 hours.
A hastily-arranged meeting of the other states was convened on Thursday where CA was asked to explain how much they knew of CV’s intentions with CEO Todd Greenberg admitting the timing of the announcement had not been ideal.
Nick Cummins, the Victoria CEO, defended his decisions saying he was looking after his staff at a time of significant uncertainty and wanted to get his organisation into a position where they could progress effectively when, or if, a hybrid privatisation model is given the green light.
Next Steps
There will be meetings this week in Melbourne involving state CEOs with the next key date being June 15 when the chairs will meet to vote on whether to proceed with allowing those states which are in favour to seek investment in their BBL teams.
CA had initially planned for the entire tournament to go into privatisation but NSW’s objections to the proposal – along with varying degrees of concerns from Queensland and South Australia – halted that process and led them to work on a model whereby individual states can decide what they do.