The Commanders have used their current nickname for the past two seasons after spending the prior two years because the Washington Football Team and the 83 years before that because the Washington Redskins. Last summer, a bunch led by Josh Harris purchased the club, and although there have been rumblings that recent ownership will want to change the name and even revert back to the Redskins, that is just not the case, per Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post.
Prior owner Dan Snyder, who repeatedly insisted that the “Redskins” moniker would never change, finally succumbed to sponorship pressure to make a switch towards the tip of his tenure. Harris & Co. have said before that there isn’t a intent to alter the present name, but recent events have made some skeptical of that proclamation.
As an illustration, through the club’s rookie minicamp earlier this month, recent head coach Dan Quinn wore an (unlicensed) T-shirt that featured the feathers that were a distinguished a part of the Redskins’ logo dangling from the stylized “W” that represents the whole thing of the present Commanders’ logo (via JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington).
As Eric Flack of WUSA9 wrote last week, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana), a key member of the Congressional committee advancing a bill that might give Washington, D.C. control of the RFK Stadium site — which can be used for a brand new stadium for the Commanders — is demanding that the team bring back the Redskins’ logo. To be clear, Daines is just not advocating the usage of the “Redskins” name, and in remarks prepared for a hearing on the proposed laws, he wrote, “[m]ake no mistake, this logo was inspired and envisioned by [Blackfeet Tribe member Blackie] Wetzel as a tribute to Native Americans. It is just not a caricature. It’s an outline of pride and strength. Of courage and honor.”
Moreover, the team recently posted birthday wishes to longtime linebacker London Fletcher on X, and in so doing, it used a picture prominently featuring the Redskins’ helmet. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk observes, the team’s social media birthday wishes to Fletcher in prior years included images by which the Redskins’ logo was not visible.
As Florio opines in a separate piece, “there aren’t any accidents,” and he believes matters like Quinn’s T-shirt are “trial balloons” to check the general public response to the old name and logo (although the team had no official comment on the T-shirt). While it might be hard to assume Harris deciding to bring back the “Redskins” name, it might be more easy to see the team incorporate elements of the prior logo, especially in light of the merchandising sales it could generate.
