TEAM TO CHANGE NAME

The new name won’t be announced until later

Washington’s NFL team will announce today that it will no longer be named the Redskins.

The Washington Redskins plan to announce this morning that they will change their team name, three people with knowledge of the situation confirmed Sunday night. The team is not expected to reveal a new name until a later date.

Today’s anticipated announcement comes after the organization released a statement July 3 saying it would be undertaking what it called a “thorough review” of the team’s name; multiple people familiar with the process have said that it would result in the name being changed. In an interview July 4, coach Ron Rivera — who is working with owner Daniel Snyder to choose a name — said he hoped the new name would be in place by the start of the 2020 season. Others have said it will be revealed as soon as within two weeks.

Two people with knowledge of the team’s plans said Sunday that the preferred replacement name is tied up in a trademark fight, which is why the team can’t announce the new name today.

In the July 4 interview, Rivera said he and Snyder had come up with two names that Rivera really liked. He did not reveal the names but said he wanted to talk with Native American and military organizations to make sure that the new name properly honored both.

The decision to change the nearly 87-year-old team name comes amid mounting pressure on the franchise from corporate sponsors amid the broader nationwide discussion of race.

On July 2, Fedex — one of the franchise’s top sponsors and the holder of its stadium’s naming rights — released a statement asking the team to change its name, and it sent a letter to Snyder last week saying it would take the company’s name off Fedex Field if he did not change the team name. Other sponsors, including Pepsico, Nike and Bank of America, also made similar demands.