Redskins nickname may soon be history
Under pressure, team to review name
The Washington Redskins moved Friday toward what team owner Daniel Snyder once vowed was unthinkable: Changing its controversial name in a bow to pressure from its largest corporate sponsors and the fierce winds of societal reckoning sweeping the country.
After years of resistance, the team said it was launching a thorough review of the name. It did not share any details of the process, but two people familiar with discussions between Snyder, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and league officials that led to the announcement Friday said the review is expected to result in a new team nickname and mascot.
“You know where this leads,” one of the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They’re working on that process [of changing the name]. It will end with a new name. Dan has been listening to different people over the last number of weeks.”
Asked whether a change was certain, the person said, “I don’t want to say 100 percent. It’s very likely headed in that direction.”
A second person with knowledge of the situation said: “It’s not a matter of if the name changes but when.”
One of the people familiar with discussions between the team and league said the change “potentially” could take place before the 2020 season, currently scheduled to begin Sept. 10, and the other said “it’s trending that way.”
The team said the review “formalizes the initial discussions the team has been having with the league in recent weeks.” It did not announce a timeline for the review.
League officials have said in recent days that any change would be a club decision, not one originating from the league office, but according to one person familiar with the league’s inner workings, owners of other NFL teams had become increasingly concerned about Snyder’s operation of the Redskins and his long-standing refusal to reconsider the name.
“We have to help him do what’s best for himself and best for the league,” that person said.
“I hope this is a wake-up call because that franchise is so important.”
With a review now underway, Snyder has little choice but to follow through with a name change, according to this individual, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Otherwise, “I think he’s going to have a major exodus of all his sponsors,” he said.
The Redskins announcement and sudden about-face on an issue that has long roiled the franchise comes on the heels of a broader nationwide discussion on race and a reckoning with the country’s history. Since George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis while in police custody in May, monuments have fallen, flags have been barred and protests calling for sweeping change, largely focused on racial equity and police brutality, have taken place in cities from coast to coast.
While the Redskins statement made no specific mention of a name change, the review will be seen league-wide as a first step toward a move the organization — and Snyder, specifically — has long resisted.
Snyder, who grew up a fan of the franchise before purchasing the team in 1999, has maintained the team name and mascot are a source of pride, honoring the heritage of Native Americans.
He famously drew a line in the sand in a 2013 interview, saying, “We’ll never change the name. It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”
But there has been growing momentum for change in recent weeks, and Thursday FedEx, a longtime sponsor and naming-rights holder of the team’s home stadium, issued a one sentence statement calling for a change. Fred Smith, FedEx chief executive, is a minority owner of the Redskins. Furthermore, Nike removed Redskins merchandise Thursday from its online store.
Carla Fredericks, among the leaders of the corporate investors representing $620 billion in assets that pressed FedEx, Nike and Pepsi to cut ties with the team if it didn’t change its name, Friday called for the Redskins review process to be expedient and be led by native voices.
“We don’t think that a long review process is necessary for a dictionary-defined racial slur,” said Fredericks, director of First Peoples Worldwide and director of the University of Colorado Law School’s American Indian Law Clinic.
The Redskins have defended the name in the face of legal challenges, and for years the issue has been a contentious one, with numerous members of Congress and even President Barack Obama calling for a change.
The name more recently has threatened to sink any hopes of the team building a new stadium in Washington, as both local and federal leaders have said a return to the District of Columbia would be contingent on a new name.
While the team had been adamant the name would not change, the organization has found itself wrestling in recent weeks with other controversial aspects of its past.
In June, the team removed the name of George Preston Marshall, its founding owner and the last NFL owner to integrate his team’s roster, from the franchise’s Ring of Honor.