Step 1: Review the landscape; Step 2: Won’t know until it happens
Owner Daniel Snyder’s fight to keep his football team named the ‘Redskins’ is starting to show it’s getting bumpier with each passing day. Today, the team announced they are going to “undergo a thorough review of the team’s name.”
This announcement comes on the heels of $620 billion worth of investment groups writing a letter to Nike, Pepsi Co, and the teams stadium naming rights partner FedEx. Things have been pushing to a head since earlier this summer with the efficacy of the name being brought up by social justice groups.
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We have seen social justice groups in the past protesting the franchise outside of stadiums, but nothing has come of it. Mr. Snyder has refused to bend to public activist pressure and has gone into some Indigenous communities to work with them on improving conditions on some of the reservations. Though some have quieted down since this partnership, there is still a loud voice calling for the team name to be changed with the Oxford English Dictionary defining the moniker as ‘racist.’
Doing a thorough review is only the first step in potential renaming and rebranding. Mr. Snyder and the rest of ownership will have to plan this out carefully as to not wind up pulling an Abe Pollin with the Bullets rebrand. Darren Rovell also stated on the Bram Weinstein show on July 2 that he doesn’t think the moniker Redskins will be around come 2026, which is when a new stadium should be finished. It’s a long and arduous road ahead. One that I hope is being documented for a future 30 for 30.