The Washington NFL franchise will look a lot different moving forward.
According to a report by Mike Jones of USA Today, Washington will retire the “Redskins” nickname and formally announce a name change on Monday. This comes in the wake of recent criticism over the existing name as part of an increased consciousness on issues related to race.
Person with knowledge of the situation confirms Washington football owner Dan Snyder and the team plan to announce name change Monday morning.
— Mike Jones (@ByMikeJones) July 13, 2020
Washington NFL Franchise to Announce Name Change on Monday
The team has come over increased pressure to make the move recently. Just a few weeks ago, the team’s most prominent corporate sponsor, FedEx, which owns the naming rights to the stadium, requested that they change their name. In addition, other sponsors such as Nike and Pepsi threatened to end their relationship with Washington.
Multiple companies who sell NFL merchandise have removed all memorabilia with the name “Redskins” from their websites. It includes the aforementioned Nike in addition to online behemoth Amazon, among others. Searches for “Washington Redskins” now return no results on many sites.
Trying to change the team’s nickname is nothing new. Many Native American groups have been campaigning for years in the hope that Washington would eventually do so as they consider it a racial slur. In fact, the first protests over the name originated as far back as the 1960s.
Current owner Dan Snyder has always been adamant that changing the team’s name would never happen. He once mentioned in an interview with USA Today: “We will never change the name. It’s that simple. NEVER. You can use caps.” But given current events and a new conversation on systemic racism, police brutality, and other issues, that has quickly become an untenable position.
Given the inevitability of such an announcement, there have been quite a few suggestions for possible replacement names. Warriors, Redwolves, and Redtails seem to be the most popular. That third one refers to the Tuskegee Airmen who were a group of African-American pilots who fought in World War II. Whatever it is, tomorrow is the beginning of a new era for this organization. And it will bring closure to those who have been fighting for this team to get rid of the “Redskins” nickname for decades.
