It seems to me that sports teams, leagues and organizations are among the most, zealous, in their protection of names and logos. In reality, they charge a lot of money in licensing for those names, so if they allow a company to use the name for free, they could lose the licensing fees that they already collect.

As an example, I used to develop open source software as a hobby. Most of the software I wrote was built on a specific company's platform. I knew I couldn't just write that company's name on the site in any way without a licensing agreement, but I sent them a short note asking about the correct wording, and they gave me a free licensing agreement so that I could properly promote the products (since they were freeware, I could not have promoted the software if I had to pay licensing). They even provided logos for use on the site, helped me write the appropriate disclaimers, etc.

As a small business, if you are reselling a licensed product or developing a fan site where you are not profiting directly from the name of the company, but rather profiting from the sale of product that is already licensed, or if you are attempting to develop a fan site about a sport or team and will profit only from advertising on the site, you may be able to do so with the cooperation of the league/team. In many cases they will give you permission to use the copyrighted name, provided you incorporate certain disclaimers into the site. You can also check the team or league's web site for a web-media kit that contains the needed disclaimers as well as media and promotional content that you can use on your site after filling out and returning a license agreement.

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