UPDATE 7/3/20 12:30 PM: The Washington Redskins said they are undertaking a “thorough review” of their team name amid mounting pressure from fans and sponsors that they should abandon the moniker commonly seen as a racial slur.
The Wall Street Journal reports the move sets the stage to resolve one of sports’ most prominent battles over offensive team names. Washington will likely be renamed before the 2020 season begins, two people familiar with the matter said.
The announcement is the first signal that the nickname could be abandoned after many years in which the team, and the NFL, defended it. It comes a day after FedEx Corp. —the team’s most prominent sponsor as the name sponsor of FedExField, where Washington plays—said it asked the team to change its name. Also on Thursday, Nike Inc., the NFL’s apparel partner, appeared to remove the team’s products from its website.
“This process allows the team to take into account not only the proud tradition and history of the franchise but also input from our alumni, the organization, sponsors, the National Football League and the local community it is proud to represent on and off the field,” team owner Dan Snyder said in a statement.
Earlier Posting...
FedEx, which owns the naming rights of the Washington Redskins’ stadium, has asked the team to change its name — a monumental shift in the debate, with FedEx CEO Frederick Smith a member of the Redskins’ ownership group, The Washington Times reports.
The stadium in Landover, Maryland, has carried the shipping company’s name as FedEx Field since November 1999. FedEx, which became the team’s sponsor with a 27-year, $200 million agreement, had not previously weighed in on the growing controversy over the name of the team, which many view as a racist slur.
“We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name,” FedEx said in a statement Thursday.
The development came after a coalition of investment firms and nonprofits called on FedEx, Nike and PepsiCo to cut ties with the team if it doesn’t change its nickname.
The group — comprising 87 funds, religious organizations and nonprofits promoting various causes including social justice, environmentalism and the rights of indigenous peoples — sent letters last week urging the three companies to pressure the Redskins to change the name. Franchise owner Dan Snyder vowed in 2013 he would never do so, and has been adamant the name is a “great tradition” and honors American Indians.
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