The Washington Football Team has anew name.
After years of criticism — and two years after dropping its “Redskins” moniker — the NFL franchise will now be called the Commanders, the organization announced on Wednesday along with a fresh logo and new uniforms.
TODAY’s Craig Melvin spoke about the change with team president Jason Wright, senior advisor Doug Williams and team captain Jonathan Allen, who said he and the rest of the organization “are excited about the future.”
Wright told Melvin that the new name “has the weight and meaning befitting of a 90-year-old franchise.”
“It resonated with our fans and it’s something we believe embodies the values of service and leadership that really define the DMV in this community,” Wright said. “It’s also something, importantly, that we can own and grow for the next 90 years and it’s something that can allow us to tie the rich history and championship legacy of this franchise to new traditions in the future.”
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The team also debuted their new name and uniforms on Instagram with a series of photos and videos.
On Twitter, the Commanders posted a hype video detailing the team’s history in the NFL before several players model the franchise’s new gear.
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In July 2020, the club announced it was dropping “Redskins” after facing years of criticism for using the term, which has been used as a racial slur against Native Americans.
Washington retired the name before officially settling on a new one, and the club has been known as the Washington Football Team over the last two seasons. Their helmets and uniforms kept theteam’s original burgundy and gold color schemebut did not include the former name and logo featuring the face of a Native American.
Washington Football Team Stadium.Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty
The decision to no longer use the word came after FedEx told the Washington, D.C.-based team in a two-page letter that it would pull its name from stadium signage following the 2020 NFL season if the team did not agree to drop it,theWashington Postreportedat the time. FedEx reportedly signed a $205 million stadium naming rights deal with the team in 1999, the outlet said.
Eighty-seven investment firms worth a collective $620 million also issued letters to FedEx, Nike and PepsiCo requesting that they cut ties with the franchise until the team dropped the name, according toAdweek. Nike then removed all merchandise with the old name from its online store.
In 2013, owner Dan Snyder toldUSA Todayhe would “never change the name” despite efforts, including some in court, to do so.
source: people.com
