It’s stupid, so, therefore they will do it.
Cleveland Baseball Club.
It’s safe, won’t offend much of anyone. Won’t bother me, I used to be a fan.
Clubs are exclusionary.
It’s funny you mention that. When the USSR started allowing some of their hockey players to sign with NHL teams in North America back in the 1980s, they had that same odd way of describing the teams. Their sports ministry would issue public statements about notable players signing with NHL teams, but they wouldn’t include the team nicknames in these announcements. Instead, they’d simply report: “Igor Larionov has signed with the NHL Club Vancouver,” “Viacheslav Fetisov has signed with the NHL Club New Jersey,” etc.
Club is actually a weapon and promotes violence. Snow flakes will melt away with the thought of violence being portrayed by the imagery {barf alert}