No president’s name is among the finalists and no senators, nor is there any mention of Native American people. Among the eight finalists, though, are the current default name of Washington Football Team (WFT).
Tanya Snyder, the co-CEO of the Washington franchise, went on Adam Schefter’s podcast Tuesday and confirmed these are the eight nicknames for the storied team (in alphabetical order):
Armada Brigade Commanders Defenders Presidents Red Wolves Redhawks WFT
Snyder told the podcast host that Washington had narrowed the list to three. When he asked her if she could reveal them, she gave a firm, “No!”
Then he said the eight finalists (mentioned above) that he’d heard, and Snyder gave an affirmative, “Yes.”
The names Redhawks and Red Wolves keep the “red” in the name used by the former Redskins. Many of the other names could be deemed as political, and WFT could be the safe way out of the debate.
The Washington Redskins first became an NFL franchise in 1932. Daniel Snyder, the team’s current owner, vowed in 2013 he would never change the team’s name. Things changed over the course of the summer in 2020, when social justice and racial equality measures led the franchise to even considering changing its name.
In the first week of July 2020, a group of 87 investors and shareholders wrote letters to three of the team’s top sponsors—FedEx, Nike and Pepsi—urging them to pull sponsorship dollars unless the team changed its name.
FedEx demanded the team change its name from Redskins last summer. That was largely important because FedEx holds the naming rights to the team’s stadium, and the company could pull it sponsorship worth many millions of dollars if the team didn’t comply. The deal over the years was worth $205 million, and it is set to expire in 2025.
A few hours after that, Nike pulled all Washington Redskins merchandise from its website. Nike still carries gear from all other 31 teams in the NFL.
PepsiCo had also been in discussions about the name change.
The team announced on July 3 (2020) that it was reviewing its name. Daniel Snyder owns the majority of the Washington franchise, and the other three co-owners stated they were “not happy being a partner.” The Washington Redskins were worth about $3.4 billion, according to Forbes’ latest calculations. That ranks seventh in the National Football League.
The team played the 2020 season under the Washington Football Team, and looks like they will again in 2021.
Major League Baseball’s Cleveland franchise is playing its last season as the “Indians.” Beginning in 2022, they will be known as the Cleveland Guardians.
