Royal Challengers 'Bengaluru': Is RCB Finally Going To Be Renamed Before IPL 2024?

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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) may finally grant the wish of the home faithful ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 as the franchise hints of a possible name change during the upcoming RCB Unbox event.

The home fans have always wanted the team to be called Royal Challengers 'Bengaluru' since the city was officially renamed from Bangalore to Bengaluru in 2014, and ever since the IPL inception. Now, the latest video shared by the franchise gives them some hope.

RCB shared a video on their social media account, featuring Kannada star Rishabh Shetty, who has possibly given a hint of a name change which will be announced on Monday (March 19) at the RCB unbox event at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

In the video, Rishab Shetty is seen approaching three buffaloes with three different herders, baring the words "Royal", "Challengers" and "Bangalore". The Kantara-fame star tells the herder of the third buffalo, baring the word "Bangalore", to take the bull away, and turns to the camera to ask "did you understand?"

This has got the fans excited about the RCB unbox event, where the team's new jersey also will be revealed, just three days ahead of the season. RCB face southern rivals Chennai Super Kings in the opener on March 22 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Bengaluru.

Many RCB fans from Karnataka have called for this change, and some have reacted to the franchise's latest post on X. Even Bengaluru's Pro Kabaddi side reacted to the news on X saying "Hesaragali Bengaluru Usiragali RCB", meaning let the name be Bengaluru and breath be RCB.

While this may be an hint for a name change, there is also a chance that this could just be a teaser for something else as the Bangalore-based franchise has done something similar earlier as well and then retained the name after all the teasing.

In 2020, RCB had removed its display picture and cover picture from Twitter (now X) with the name being changed to just 'Royal Challengers'. The same was done on their Instagram and Facebook accounts which hinted at a possible announcement of a new name along with a new logo.

According to reports back then, RCB were set to replace 'Bangalore' in their team name with 'Bengaluru' on February 16, but that didn't happen as the franchise remained Royal Challengers Bangalore and only the logo gained a refreshed look.

However, this time, it is very likely the franchise will reward their very loyal fan-base, who they call the 12th man army, by renaming the club as Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the unbox event, where many surprises will be in store.