On Sunday Washington announced it would begin a review process of the team’s nickname. On Monday morning the team announced it will be officially its nickname from “Redskins.”
Washington ‘Redskins’ to change name and logo following pressure from sponsors
The move comes 10 days after league sponsors pushed for a name change.
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
The wording of the statement is very deliberate. The team said it wanted to keep “sponsors, fans and community” apprised of their thinking, with “sponsors” first, and that’s why we reached this point.
Native American groups, activists and the community have been pushing for years to have the team change the name, only to be met with waves of resistance, PR videos and claims that Native Americans like the name “Redskins,” despite wider polling showing this isn’t the case. It wasn’t until key sponsors put pressure on the team to change the name that action was taken, and that action was swift. FedEx, who owns naming rights to the team stadium, PespsiCo, Bank of America and Nike all asked the team, or the NFL for the name to change on July 3rd, now 10 days later the team is dropping its nickname without the same resistance.
It’s unknown what the new name will be, but the Washington Post is reporting that the team’s desired nickname is currently held up in a trademark dispute. Martin McCaulay, a noted trademark squatter who began registering potential team names back in 2014 now has a vast catalog of names under his ownership, making it highly possible one of these names is what the team wants:
- Washington Red Wolves
- Washington Tribe
- Washington Redtails
- Washington War Hogs
- Washington Veterans
- Washington Braves
- Washington Renegades
It’s widely rumored the team wants either “Red Wolves” or “Redtails” as their future nickname, but this is just speculation at this time.
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