JET-TV has learned that the Erie Storm football team will change its name for the 2011 season.  The team was facing a lawsuit filed by Lake Erie College (Painsville, Ohio) which claims the indoor football team misled the public into believing that the team was associated with the school.

Today, Storm officials have decided that they will change the team's name in 2011.  The college has agreed to allow the Storm to keep its name through the remainder of the 2010 season.

A Storm official told JET-TV that the team could have kept the name by going through a legal battle, but that would have cost between $50,000 and $100,000.  That team official added that the cost of litigation would have threatened bankruptcy for the team.  Instead, the Storm wants the fans to understand that it is more important to stay in Erie with a new name than to risk financial troubles.

The Storm will play the New Jersey Revolution in the Tullio Arena on Friday night at 7:30pm.