Washington Football Team is now the Washington Commanders

DourDoerr

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Washington FC was just sitting there for them in the interim.
That's a great name and a real departure from the usual for the NFL.

What are the odds that it hasn't crossed Snyder's mind to call the team the "Football Union" or some such just so he can put the letters "F U" on the helmets?
 

rymflaherty

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Somehow, Washington Football Team, seems just as ignorant to me. By keeping the colors and refusing to provide an actual new name, it seems like it’s just an encouraging part of the fan base to use the old name.
 

soxhop411

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Who will be the first play-by-play/commentator to mistakenly refer to them by their old name?
Announcers still refer to the LA Rams as STL Rams as recently as last season. So I say the first game they play.
 

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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Somehow, Washington Football Team, seems just as ignorant to me. By keeping the colors and refusing to provide an actual new name, it seems like it’s just an encouraging part of the fan base to use the old name.
There could very well be legal reasons they can't release the new name yet.

But I bet they're keeping the team colors either way.
 

m0ckduck

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I immediately hope they win the Super Bowl now. How great would it be to have the Football Team be this year’s champs.
 

bankshot1

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That shirt is kind of great - it’s like what a Russian spy in a parody movie would wear (or equally someone in a low budget movie that didn’t want to worry about copyrights, so they could drink a can of ‘Beer’ and wear their ‘football team’ jersey

This is really incredible
The name is so generic I wonder whether it can it copyrighted?
 

VORP Speed

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They are blundering into what is a great move. They will become the “The Team” and it will never go back. They’ll sell a gazillion John Belushi style sweatshirts.
 

InstaFace

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I don't know. I like Washington Football Team more than the Sentinels.
edit: beaten to it, but "Washington FC" would be one of the better troll jobs in DC history.

They are blundering into what is a great move. They will become the “The Team” and it will never go back. They’ll sell a gazillion John Belushi style sweatshirts.
*cracks open a can* ahh yeah man, I root for The Team. They play the Sport. It's a Time.
 

dirtynine

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I love that the thread title predicted the actual name.

Washington FT... not bad for now. It will end up being something boring like Warriors, so this is a nice oasis of weirdness.

Hopefully informal community-driven nicknames will start to show up. I vote for The Temps or the Term Limits. (The risk, of course, is that a wildly-popular informal name takes hold in the fansbase and then Washington is too dumb/stubborn to use it.)
 

Winger 03

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So thoughts on this position from a member of the Osage Nation....

*****
The decision to use Football Team was “worse than doing nothing,” said Louis Gray, a member of the Osage Nation and former president of Tulsa Indian Coalition Against Racism. He believes the franchise is “extending the name purposefully” because, until the team re-brands, fans will wear their old gear and support a name the team itself has acknowledged as offensive.

“As Native Americans, we’re used to people saying, ‘Well, maybe next year, maybe two years, maybe this,'” Gray said. “We’re used to waiting, but we really did feel like this time there was a chance for them to make this right. And I’m awfully disappointed they decided to put this off for a year.”

The business decision makes sense, but it doesn’t address the real issue, said David Glass, a member of White Earth Band of Ojibwe and president of National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media. He wants the franchise to engage Native communities on how to respectfully transition away from, as well as memorialize, the name “Redskins.”

WaPo Article
*****

So does the WFT have any obligation to include the Native American Nations in anything any longer regarding the WFT's former name? Opinions floated here in DC are of the mind that "WFT is out of the Native American business (assuming the new name has no NA imagery or links) and with that, their input is not needed." Of course there are opinions along the lines of "they need to include the NA Nations to make up for the prior name."

I am not certain what side is right, though I am leaning toward the former. The NA Nations had a position that the name should be changed. The name was changed (for whatever reason), and shouldn't that satisfy the NA's position. It is not like the NA Nations were asking to change the name and have a seat at the table to determine a new one.

This will be interesting to watch.
 

InstaFace

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For me, the most important thing was to stop using racist terms and imagery, which perpetuated the other-ing and dehumanization of a wide swath of people that we've committed genocide against in our past (and as Neil Gorsuch will vehemently tell you, are still trying to do so in various and subtle ways today). That's like 99% of the point and the request here. First, stop doing harm. Then, do no harm going forward. Making up for past harm is nice, but less essential.

It would be ideal if the team recognized the sins of its now-former name were bad enough that they ought to work to actively undo some of that harm or otherwise mitigate it - to become a convert to the cause of helping native americans achieve greater equality and regard. But that's almost certainly a bridge too far for Snyder and many of his retrograde fans, and if they decided to try it, it'd likely be done in a ham-handed, PR-heavy, insincere or token fashion, which might end up doing more harm than good. That's way more likely than it ending up a true positive partnership like the Florida State Seminoles.

So I'm fine with them, as you say, washing their hands of being in "the Native American business" and moving on without any reference to it going forward. Maybe there's an argument that by going name-less this year, they're just inviting people to continue using the old name, but I think that will be a temporary and minor thing, and I'd prefer the current situation to them taking another year running with the former name as they search for a new one. Either way, I don't think they're morally obligated to give native americans a seat at the table, as their brand consultants pretend to have a creative bone in their body. Snyder listened, at long last, and you can't expect much more of him.
 

Winger 03

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It would be ideal if the team recognized the sins of its now-former name were bad enough that they ought to work to actively undo some of that harm or otherwise mitigate it - to become a convert to the cause of helping native americans achieve greater equality and regard. But that's almost certainly a bridge too far for Snyder and many of his retrograde fans, and if they decided to try it, it'd likely be done in a ham-handed, PR-heavy, insincere or token fashion, which might end up doing more harm than good. That's way more likely than it ending up a true positive partnership like the Florida State Seminoles.
This is 100% true. It is as if there is a book on how to do the right thing and they always seem to do the opposite.
 

bankshot1

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More football intrigue in DC

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/sports/football/washington-nfl-snyder-lawsuit.html
"Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Washington Football Team, has accused a disgruntled former team employee of taking money and assisting in a campaign to spread damaging information against him, his latest effort to fight back attacks on his ownership of the N.F.L. club.

In a filing on Monday in Federal District Court in Alexandria, Va., Snyder asked for access to documents that the former employee, Mary-Ellen Blair, who was an executive assistant in the front office, has, including confidential team records, that might bolster his defamation case against an Indian media company that he contends published defamatory rumors about him.

The filing, known as a request for discovery, was made three days after Snyder filed a defamation lawsuit in New Delhi against Media Entertainment Arts WorldWide, whose parent company is in India. Media Entertainment Arts WorldWide published articles on its website in July that Snyder considered slanderous and that have since been taken down. Snyder accused the company of accepting money to publish the articles. He wants to identify who paid for them."
 

DJnVa

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Maybe they announce this year, with new name taking the field next year?
 

pedro1918

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I have no proof of this, but the only thing that makes a little sense to me is that Snyder sells the team without a name at a premium. Snyder essentially charges the new ownership for the right to pick the new name. Maybe? I don't know. Not sure how much value that adds. I mean it's valued at several billion before the name issue. I don't really believe Snyder wants to sell the team and I certainly don't think the NFL will force him to sell. Not yet anyway.
 

tims4wins

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I am guessing they are waiting to announce the name change so that they can simultaneously roll it out with merchandise. It takes a long time to get the logo right, get jerseys approved / updated, etc.

I also still think that Washington Pigkins is an absolute slam dunk name (homage to the Hogs, could still be called either the Skins or the Hogs, good logo possibilities), but I am thinking they go in a different direction.
 

Kliq

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Honestly, the Washington Football Team really grew on me during the season and I liked the simplicity of their logo; it felt very old-fashioned. They also have arguably the best color scheme in sports.
 

Awesome Fossum

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From the outset, they said it was probably going to take two years. So this isn't unexpected.

Honestly, the Washington Football Team really grew on me during the season and I liked the simplicity of their logo; it felt very old-fashioned. They also have arguably the best color scheme in sports.
Me too. I'm quite sure it's going to be better than whatever the new name is. I think the logo needs some work, but I love the retro vibe. If I were in charge, I'd go all in on the old-school feel and transition to the throwbacks:

 

singaporesoxfan

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Honestly, the Washington Football Team really grew on me during the season and I liked the simplicity of their logo; it felt very old-fashioned. They also have arguably the best color scheme in sports.
Yes, I really like the name for a DC team - it has a no-nonsense, almost bureaucratic feel to it
 

Was (Not Wasdin)

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dynomite

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Honestly, the Washington Football Team really grew on me during the season and I liked the simplicity of their logo; it felt very old-fashioned. They also have arguably the best color scheme in sports.
I totally agree that the classic name and look of the team was a surprisingly hit this fall. Their logo and design, beyond being deeply offensive and problematic, also just looked old and tired, whereas the whole "Football Team" branding with numbers on the helmets felt instantly deeply cool. I had never understood why European soccer clubs would just call themselves "FC Barcelona," but I totally got it after seeing the comparison.

While I'm not sure I agree with the best color scheme -- burgundy and gold reminds me of Taco Bell in the 80s -- I think "Washington F.T., est. 1932" is far, far cooler than the somewhat silly, generic animal mascots most professional teams use (aggressive birds, jungle cats).
 

joe dokes

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I totally agree that the classic name and look of the team was a surprisingly hit this fall. Their logo and design, beyond being deeply offensive and problematic, also just looked old and tired, whereas the whole "Football Team" branding with numbers on the helmets felt instantly deeply cool. I had never understood why European soccer clubs would just call themselves "FC Barcelona," but I totally got it after seeing the comparison.

While I'm not sure I agree with the best color scheme -- burgundy and gold reminds me of Taco Bell in the 80s -- I think "Washington F.T., est. 1932" is far, far cooler than the somewhat silly, generic animal mascots most professional teams use (aggressive birds, jungle cats).
After reading the posts about this, I agree it could work. But can you imagine the braying from the crowd that is still licking its wounds over Kaepernick's destruction of America if the team considers doing something that they do in *soccer.*
They'd sooner take up a collection to buy Elon College's (now University) old nickname and mascot than do something like soccer does it:

39117
 

Warning Track Speed

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They're starting to survey fans with some potential names. Around three dozen are being tested but fans are each only getting a subset to pick from.

There might be a couple decent ones on here but by and large, meh. The Washington Rising? Demon Cats? Belters? Wayfarers?

https://richmond.com/sports/professional/here-are-the-35-potential-washington-football-team-names-fans-were-surveyed-about/article_e0e3c727-34d0-5368-972b-9209b561c995.html#utm_campaign=blox&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
 

Beomoose

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They're starting to survey fans with some potential names. Around three dozen are being tested but fans are each only getting a subset to pick from.

There might be a couple decent ones on here but by and large, meh. The Washington Rising? Demon Cats? Belters? Wayfarers?

https://richmond.com/sports/professional/here-are-the-35-potential-washington-football-team-names-fans-were-surveyed-about/article_e0e3c727-34d0-5368-972b-9209b561c995.html#utm_campaign=blox&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
Wel Beltalowda im wa gut name, ere least kowl da Beltalowda showxa so.