Brian Burke is taking partial credit for the Anaheim Ducks becoming less mighty.
The former Ducks general manager appeared on Toronto’s Sportsnet 590 The Fan, where he claimed that he was somewhat responsible for the ‘Mighty Ducks’ changing to their current ‘Ducks’ name in 2006.
“In the interview, they said to me, what do you think of the name of the team? ‘I said well it sucks.’ And they said ‘what do you think of our uniforms?’ I said the ‘uniforms suck too.’ So they committed in the interview they said to they were committed to changing the name and changing the uniforms.
Brian Burke says his job interview with the Ducks was part of the reason the team dropped the word "Mighty" from its name. pic.twitter.com/tRKLgJa0dF
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 13, 2019
While Burke likely had some influence on the Ducks’ branding decisions, it’s pretty well-documented the Ducks dropped the “Mighty” qualifier after purchasing the team from the Walt Disney Co. The connection to the “Mighty Ducks” movies was stale at that point with the three-film franchise long-dead. Keeping naming rights from Disney probably wasn’t easy or cheap. Changing over ownership meant the Ducks didn’t need to tie into the films, so they altered the team name while keeping things somewhat familiar.
Burke probably did want to change the name. He’s got a clear history of hating fun. But the change had to be made if the Ducks ever wanted to distance themselves from their Disney roots.
