How Dodgers’ new minor league team in Ontario came up with its name

You can say you are building a ballpark, but the anticipation accelerates when the community sees what the ballpark might look like. For the city of Ontario and its architects, the rendering of its minor league ballpark included a team name.

A placeholder, that is. The new team owners did not yet own the team. The name would come later. The Dodgers’ California League team would not move in until 2026.

On that drawing last year: the Ontario Sky Mules, with a whimsical logo of a grinning donkey wearing sunglasses and flying a prop plane. It was, frankly, awesome.

It was the essence of the minor leagues. Don’t know what a sky mule is? Hardly anyone knew what a trash panda was, either, and the Trash Pandas are one of the hottest brands in the minors.

This year, the newly hired team staff dropped hints about the actual name, about the buzz in town. On the walls of the team offices: “Cleared for Takeoff.” The city referenced ballpark fan zones nicknamed “The Airfield” and “The Tarmac.”

And, just last week, the biggest hint of all: the announcement of a naming rights deal with Ontario International Airport, close enough to the ballpark that you’ll be able to see flights take off. The ballpark name: ONT Field (spell it out: O-N-T, like LAX).

On Thursday, eight months in advance of its first game, the team finally revealed its name: the Ontario Tower Buzzers.

It’s an homage to the movie “Top Gun,” and to the defiant line uttered by the pilot played by Tom Cruise: “It’s time to buzz the tower.” The Tower Buzzers’ mascot, a bee called Maverick, is named after Cruise’s character.

The team name balances heritage and whimsy. The city is paying for the ballpark and wants to promote its airport, which was used as a World War II air base before reverting to civilian use and expanding into an Inland Empire transportation hub.

“We want to honor that legacy and have fun with it,” Tower Buzzers general manager Allan Benavides said. “We found something we think is a fun minor league name, rather than just, say, Pilots or Aviators.”

“We want to honor that legacy and have fun with it,” Tower Buzzers general manager Allan Benavides, standing in front of a rendering of the team’s new stadium, said of the name.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Aviators? Already in use in Las Vegas. The Pilots? The name of a failed California League team in Riverside (the college landlord wouldn’t allow beer sales, which is akin to a death sentence in the minor leagues).

The Tower Buzzers should fare better, in a ballpark that figures to be the second-best place to see a ballgame in Southern California, behind Petco Park and ahead of Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium.

The city’s latest cost estimate is $120 million, for a Class A ballpark. The stadium that opened this year for the Angels’ triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake City cost $140 million and holds 8,000.

ONT Field is expected to hold 6,500 — but with 3,200 seats between the foul poles, and the rest wherever you prefer: in the outfield, on the grass, in picnic areas, on a playground, or in bars, clubs and suites, including a couple where you can converse with the players.

There’s an ice cream parlor, a food hall, and a bar shaped like a luggage carousel. After a home run, the splash pad will erupt, and propellers will whirl in a bar. A runway will light up, and so will the antennas on the mascot.

The scoreboard is a hexagon, just like the one at Dodger Stadium. Soon to appear: a mural of Fernando Valenzuela. All fans, not just the ones in the fancy seats, can watch players in the batting cage.

On the afternoon I visited, the temperature was 108 degrees. The seating area will not have mist machines, as the Angels’ old California League stadium in Palm Springs did.

“It won’t be 108 at 7 o’clock,” Benavides said.

His target audience: the “30-year-old moms” that he said control the calendar and the spending for the family.

“Not everybody is a baseball fan, but they want to have time,” he said. “They want to be away from their cellphones and the TV and be outside, not spend a ton of money, and not have to drive to L.A. or San Diego.”

Crews work on the construction of ONT Field in Ontario last month. The team last week announced a naming rights deal with Ontario International Airport. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Angels’ California League affiliate will play in Rancho Cucamonga, eight miles away. Another California League team plays in San Bernardino, 25 miles away. The Angels themselves are 35 miles away.

“We’re going to fight for dollars, certainly, but I think our affiliation with the Dodgers is huge,” Benavides said. “They’re the hottest brand in baseball, depending on who you ask. I’m a Dodger fan, so I think they are.

“And I think this will be the nicest minor league stadium in the country, regardless of classification.”

If the Tower Buzzers do not win that fight for dollars, Ontario’s investment in the ballpark could turn out to be a poor one.

The ballpark is the anchor of what the city is modestly calling the Ontario Sports Empire, a 200-acre facility for training and competition billed by the city as the “largest sports complex of its kind west of the Rocky Mountains.”

There absolutely is a market for sports tourism, for all those kids and all their parents shuttling to weekend tournaments in baseball, softball, football, soccer, tennis and more. But that market can be tapped without a nine-figure investment in a minor league ballpark. (The naming rights payments come from airport revenues, not city taxpayers; the airport is administered jointly by the city and San Bernardino County.)

A rendering of ONT Field, set to open in 2026.

(Courtesy of City of Ontario)

That ballpark investment is more about a local entertainment option for residents, with so many homes in the pipeline that the population could double from close to 200,000 to about 400,000 within two decades. The NHL’s Kings already have a minor league affiliate playing in the city’s arena, and city officials plan for restaurants, hotels and shops to surround the ballpark and sports complex.

Dan Bell, a city spokesman, said Ontario is adding about 1,200 new homes every year.

“And they’re reasonable,” Bell said. “You can’t afford the L.A. market anymore.”

On Thursday, at the moment the team announced the Tower Buzzers name, the team merchandise went on sale. The home jerseys say Buzzers.

So is it Buzzers or Tower Buzzers? It’s like Blazers or Trail Blazers.

“We’ll let fans decide,” Benavides said.

I still wondered about the homage. When the Tower Buzzers take the field next year, “Top Gun” will turn 40. To a fan of a certain age, the reference is obvious. It would be like opening a pizza delivery service and calling it Spicoli’s.

To a younger generation, “Top Gun” might mean a blank stare. No worries, Benavides said. You’ll be able to enjoy a night at the ballpark all the same.

“We’re not going to 100% lean into that film,” he said. “This isn’t going to be a ‘Top Gun’ museum.”

Well, then, Tower Buzzers: You are cleared for takeoff.