In the modern era of sports franchise expansion, nicknames are no longer assigned in a haphazard way by the news media, but rather are chosen by the teams for marketing and advertising purposes. The names are chosen in order to establish a strong team identity, and to have an attractive logo to encourage sales of merchandise to fans, such as caps and shirts. Often the nickname will have some sort of historical, geographical, cultural or economic symbolic connection or representation of the city and more recently, the surrounding state.