Poll: Will The Pelicans Buy Pelicans.com?

Earlier today, I posted the news that the owner of the Pelicans.com domain name has put it up for sale for $125,000, with Andrew Rosener of Media Options tasked to broker the domain name.

While I could see more than one group having an interest in this domain name, I think the NBA basketball team would be the most likely buyer, especially given the price. The New Orleans Hornets own Hornets.com, and they likely realize the importance of owning the exact match team domain name.

NBA basketball teams have been known to spend money on after market acquisitions. The Charlotte Bobcats purchased Bobcats.com reportedly for $50,000 back in 2007. NBA franchises do not own Wizards.com, Magic.com, Mavericks.com, Nets.com, Jazz.com, or Cavaliers.com, but they own all of the others.

Although $125k is a lot of money, I believe the team is better off buying it than letting someone else get it. Do you think the NBA Pelicans will end up buying Pelicans.com? Vote below:


Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

16 COMMENTS

  1. If the domain owner knows a specific target that would want the domain (as in this example the new NBA team) why would the owner hire a broker and if the domain sell hands over $12-18k for commission? The price is very reasonable compared to what other similar domains have sold for.

    • I would assume there are two reasons:

      1) It’s easy for people with contacts and know-how to get in touch with decision makers. We probably take that knowledge for granted.

      2) It’s always better to have more than one prospect. Perhaps Andrew will find an organization that wants to make a competitive bid. It could make the team make a decision more rapidly.

  2. It seems to me that it will be a smart move on the teams part to buy the name. Exact Match Domain Brands are one of the few opportunities for making a difference in today’s world (for a new team name). For merchandising, and many other considerations, a team’s brand is much more than their logo. If I owned the team, I will write the check today.

  3. Hiring a broker was a smart move on the domain owners part. This isn’t going to be an easy sale because there is only one entity on earth that will pay that much money for that specific name and its the NBA and because of that its going to get tricky. There is no other viable business that would buy that name for that money. Now if it were the singular version there are thousands of possibilities but the plural version in my opinion, at that type of money, has only one target and thats the basketball team.

  4. Polls never work from my iPhone for some reason. Anyway I say someone else will buy it. The team has dome the favor of creatig a sense of urgency for someone else to buy it. Team will probably drop the ball. This is essentially their last and only chance to get it.

  5. I would agree they should buy it and it is reasonably priced all things considered.

    However I think a broker and set price (BIN) was actually a very big, perhaps 6 figure mistake.

    Why, quite simple, if the NBA team truly wanted it and realized it’s importance it wouldnt have mattered if it was $125k or $325k, jmo. I have learned a valuable lesson in both virtual and real property..when you knock at my door the price is always higher.

    • Depends on their timing. Might as well let them know it’s for sale now before they’ve relaunched a new site on a different domain name (and spent money on business cards, stationary, advertising…etc).

  6. Far overpriced for this name. It doesn’t matter whether Pelicans is the new name for the team. If the NBA never committed to acquire the other names, then why would they go after this name at $125K.

    I don’t see the name selling for $125K. The team is not that good. They won’t be competitive for many years. If the Mavericks.com was never acquired, it is a sign that Pelicans dot won’t find a home.

    As Todd mentioned, there is only one buyer. They must come to the owner rather than a owner or broker going to them. $125K is too high.

    The names mentioned above are far better than Pelicans.com. IMO, unless the team comes knocking, I don’t see a $125K sale.

    • The NBA bought a lot of team names, I don’t see why they would stop here. Some of the names they didn’t buy the owner might have refused to sell, or was asking for millions. This is a reasonable price for an NBA team so I think it could happen.

      Here are just some of the names the NBA owns, I didn’t check all of them:

      Bobcats.com
      Bucks.com
      Bulls.com
      Clippers.com
      Blazers.com
      Grizzlies.com
      Hawks.com
      Heat.com
      Hornets.com
      Kings.com
      Nuggets.com
      Pistons.com
      Raptors.com
      Rockets.com
      Pacers.com
      Trailblazers.com
      Spurs.com
      Suns.com

    • The NBA may have purchased past names, but it doesn’t mean they will pay $125K for Pelicans.com

      The Cowboys football team assumed they could get Cowboys.com for peanuts. It didn’t happen. The new stadium cost nearly a billion. Now, Cowboys.com is the new home to a dating site.

      The Angels attempted to take Angels.com from another owner. In the end, the domain holder who purchased the domain for $25K (rough estimate) sold it for 6-fiigures.

      Pelicans is a strange name for a sports team. It seems weak.

      It doesn’t matter if the players and owners are making millions. Only one entity will pay $125K for this domain. It doesn’t hold the same value for any other party. If a NBA didn’t rebrand with the name, the domain would not sell for that much.

  7. If you look at what player salaries are over a season, compared to the life of the domain, they probably priced to low, since they were late to the game, they should have paid a premium closer to $200K.

    Many NBA teams sign guys for $4-5M to sit on the bench, $125K is not much at the end of the day. Nobody else is going to pay this amount of money for pelicans, personally most hate the team name. Hiring a broker was a wasted commission, $20K could be better spend, when you know there is only 1 party who is going to go to that level for your name in the next few months.

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