Replies

You are right the new name is a placeholder.

Now if you'll excuse me for a minute... I need to rant...

It was a panicked, gutless move during last summer's craziness. Snyder (the owner) had always been 100% behind and totally unapologetic about the team name. He was on record saying he would never change it. A poll a few years ago showing a large majority of Native Americans did not have a problem with the name seemed to have settled the issue. There was no plan to have a name in waiting just in case. Then all of a sudden it was a perfect storm, that some would say was organized, to try and make Snyder sell the team. Minority owners wanted out, FedEx wanting to drop the naming rights to the Stadium, Nike dropping the merchandise, the NFL backing away, stories that Snyder was involved in a sexual harassment settlement and may have been an accomplice of Epstein. Dropping the name was the pressure release and bought Snyder time.

The Redskins/WFT "brand" is worth north of $3 billion dollars. The clowns that said "Just rename it... you'll sell a ton more merchandise..." are clueless. That brand had been built over the course of 80+ years. If it was profitable to change names, NFL teams would do it all the time. The plan is to go this year as WFT again. It keeps the color scheme and a connection for the dwindling number of Skins fans who are still engaged. My thought is that besides all names being problematic at this point (seriously... everything is "offensive") this helps Snyder if he has to sell the team sooner rather than later. This way, the new owner has complete control and it will make the sale easier. Lots of rumors that Bezos wants the team.

Full disclosure - I was a lifetime, passionate, Skins fan. After the events of last summer, I completely walked away from the NFL. When my beloved Skins ceased to be, I just couldn't care less. I really felt like the scales had fallen from my eyes. Why was I giving time and money and passion to a group of people who hate what I believe, hate my country, and many of whom are truly awful, just because they run fast and wear the same clothes as other people I used to like? I had missed exactly one game in 46 years and this year, I did not watch a single play. Didn't watch any other pro football either. Not even the Super Bowl. I was stunned at how easy it was to stop caring and do productive things with that time.

Not sorry I used to be a fan, but happy I am not one now.

They could just call them ‘The Reds’.

(I’m not sure if Democrat-controlled DC would like or object to that...)

This is all so funny to me, because my high-school sweetheart was Eastern Band Cherokee, and he was very proud of the Redskins. And the last big survey taken among Native Americans proved that the vast majority - something like more than 80% - had no objection to the name.

This is another case of privileged white people deciding what ‘People of Color’ should think.