The Washington Redskins have officially announced their new name for tentative, upcoming 2020 season: the “Washington Football Team.”
The team plans to retire its controversial Redskins name and hopes to have all references erased on its physical and digital spaces by the time its September 13 regular-season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles gets under way.
Washington will not change its traditional burgundy and gold color scheme, ESPN.com reported, and will shift from a traditional mascot name one that seems more befitting of a Major League Soccer club drawn up by writers from The Onion.
Meanwhile, feedback from Redskins players, alumni, fans, sponsors, and Washington, D.C. area community members will be solicited for use in the future.
In addition, “Washington Football Team” merchandise will be available from Fanatics and NFL Shop in the upcoming days.
The name had been used for 87 years and team owner Daniel Snyder originally told USA Today in 2013 to “put it in all caps” that he would never make such a move. Washington’s logo has been criticized for its insensitive nature toward Native Americans.
The logo was originally proposed by Walter Wetzel, a former Blackfeet tribal chairman and past president of the National Congress of American Indians. It was introduced in 1972 and modeled after the likeness of the Buffalo nickel (see the uncanny resemblance here).
Redskins Past and Present Respond
As one of the most storied franchises in NFL history, the Washington Football Team has plenty of high profile alumni, and current players as well.
Following the announcement, QB Dwayne Haskins, Jr. released the following tweet:
Legendary former cornerback Darrell Green said the change was one of the greatest things Snyder’s done since owning the team, and said that the time for a change was long overdue.
“We’re trying to get to a place of love and respect,” Green said in a radio interview. “And people can call that corny, but don’t you think we need that? Don’t you think the world could use just a little cup of love right now? A little cup of consideration?”
Former running back and kick returner Brian Mitchell had the following to say earlier this month to NBC Sports, as team sponsors PepsiCo, Nike and FedEx threatened to terminate their business relationships with the team unless they changed their long-standing “Redskins” name.
“If something is offensive, we have to get to the point where we think of that all the same.
“In this life, things change, whether we want it or not sometimes. But I’ve always been told by my coaches when I played sports, you have to adjust. I think the same thing has to happen in life.”
