Erie Seawolves debut as rebranded Moon Mammoths after winning contest on HBO's "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver"
The Seawolves are the Double-A affiliate for the Detroit Tigers, and they got their new alter ego after winning a rebranding contest put on by none other than HBO's "Last Week Tonight" host John Oliver and his team.
The Seawolves beat out 47 other minor league teams to win this rebrand, and the only stipulation the Seawolves had to agree to for all this was that they would have no say in the new name, logo and mascot.
Oliver and his comedy writers went to work, dug deep and found the story of George Moon, who discovered a 12,000-year-old Mammoth fossil in Erie County in the summer of 1991. From there, it wasn't a stretch for them to come up with the new team name.
Oliver unveiled the Moon Mammoths on his show a few weeks ago, and on Saturday night at UPMC Park in Erie, Oliver headlined a sold-out game with over 6,000 fans to welcome the Moon Mammoths to town.
"I think this is less about me," Oliver told KDKA-TV. "I am excited to see what Erie does with this in the future because now we are done. So, I am excited to see what you'll do with this group of ingredients. It is like a very odd episode of "Chopped." We have given you some odd ingredients here. I cannot wait to go and see the cake-adjacent thing that you are about to bake."
When asked how he felt about all the hype around this new mascot, George Moon, the mammoth fossil finder said, "If you had bet me 34 years ago on something like this, I would have not taken the money, I would have lost. This is great. I love it for Erie. It is great for the community, for the ballpark, for everybody around."
Fans were over the moon for this rebrand, too.
"I thought it was awesome. As soon as I saw the logo and the mascot, I was excited and I was flipping out," said Kim Conti from Erie.
And Moon Mammoth merch was flying off the shelves both at the park and online.
"My husband was right on it," said Sharon Correll of Erie. "He is a Seawolves fan. He heard about this on the John Oliver show, and he was right there getting everything ordered."
The Moon Mammoths will be the SeaWolves' alter-egos. The team will appear as the Mammoths for several games this season and could potentially play as them for a few games next year as well.
For more information on the Erie Moon Mammoths or to get some of their merchandise, click here.
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