ESPN mistakenly referred to the Cleveland Guardians as the “Indians” in a graphic aired on-screen during the team’s Friday evening game.
During Guardians’ wild-card series game against the Tampa Bay Rays, ESPN advertised the upcoming game on Saturday, but the graphic read “RAYS vs INDIANS.”
Photos of ESPN’s mistake were quickly uploaded online by social media users. “Just saw a Rays vs Indians graphic,” football analyst Joshua Perry tweeted. “Graphics producer gotta tighten up.”
One user called on the network to “get it together.” Another user mentioned ESPN and jokingly asked, “when did the Indians come back?”
The Guardians announced the decision to drop “Indians” in the middle of the last season in July 2021, ending a 106-year association with the name.
Team owner Paul Dolan was inspired to change the name after the George Floyd Riots of the summer of 2020, the Associated Press reported.
However, the team has struggled to fill stadium seats since the name change.
“In 2019, the last ‘normal’ year before pandemic craziness set in, the Indians saw an average of 21,465 fans per game,” Breitbart News’ Warner Todd Huston reported. “This year, though, the team has only averaged 15,025 fans per game.”
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