- Title: Washington Football Team ready to reveal new name and fans are fine with that
- Date: 1st February 2022
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 1, 2022) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING NEXT TO WHITE HOUSE (SOUNDBITE) (English) NFL FAN TOM ON WASHINGTON DROPPING THE REDSKINS NAME, SAYING: "My thought is, if Redskins offends people, the original Americans, just do it, do something else, let's not be deliberately offensive. especially with something like a pro football team name, something that's easy to change so let's just do it, you know." (SOUNDBITE) (English) NFL FANS SAVANNAH (ON RIGHT) AND SAM ON WASHINGTON DROPPING THE REDSKINS NAME, SAYING: "I feel like that was a big move for football, for the NFL, I think it was a good move for the NFL to be, you know, more inclusive, you know, an organization so I'm glad that they made that decision." (SOUNDBITE) (English) NFL FAN TYLER ON WASHINGTON DROPPING THE REDSKINS NAME, SAYING: "He (team owner Dan Snyder) was forced to and gave in and changed it. I thought it was pretty bold, you know to change it to the Football Team. I know a lot of people were like, thinking it was a goofy name like we're the Football Team, but he's like fine, if I'm going to change it we're just going to be the Football Team." WIDE OF THE WHITE HOUSE (SOUNDBITE) (English) NFL FANS SAVANNAH (ON RIGHT) AND SAM ON RUMORED NEW WASHINGTON TEAM NAME OF 'COMMANDERS', SAYING: "The Washington Commanders? I don't know." (SAM SAYING: "I don't hate it.") "I feel like when you decide you want a strong name, to go with a name like Commanders, just very in your face strong, so I don't know if I necessarily love the name, but yeah Commanders is better than Redskins, let's put it that way." (SAM SAYING: "Absolutely, yes.") (SOUNDBITE) (English) NFL FAN TOM ON RUMORED NEW WASHINGTON TEAM NAME OF 'COMMANDERS', SAYING: "Can't say that really gets me up and going but it's better than Redskins, it's got a nice feel to it. People get used to it and just deal with it. My university, Miami University of Ohio, we were the Redskins for a while and they changed to Redhawks and there was a big to-do at first and then nothing really, people got used to it, you know." (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT FELIPE ON RUMORED NEW WASHINGTON TEAM NAME OF COMMANDERS, SAYING: "Well, Commanders, he's in Washington, D.C., there's the Commander-in-Chief (U.S. President) here. There are commanders on air force bases, like Andrews (Air Force Base in nearby Maryland), so Commanders doesn't sound horribly bad." (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPORTS FAN ON RUMORED NEW WASHINGTON TEAM NAME OF 'COMMANDERS', SAYING: "Yeah, I did hear that it was leaked, possibly that it was going to be the Commanders. I don't know, not a great name for me but maybe it has some significance to Washington or something like that, you know."
- Embargoed: 15th February 2022 23:03
- Keywords: NFL WFT Washington Football Team
- Location: WASHINGTON, DC / LANDOVER, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
- City: WASHINGTON, DC / LANDOVER, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: American Football,Sport,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA001FWUGSVZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The National Football League's Washington Football Team will finally reveal their new name Wednesday (February 2) after a lengthy review on how to replace an original name that was widely seen as a racial slur against Native Americans.
The club, which had long said they would never change the Redskins name, softened its stance in mid-2020 after a naming rights sponsor to their suburban stadium in Landover, Maryland urged the NFL team to rebrand.
The team said they would be known as Washington Football Team while they worked to finalize a replacement name and logo.
Wolves and RedWolves had been popular suggestions among fans during the rebranding process.
The team that became the Washington Redskins was founded in 1932 as the Boston Braves. Its name was changed to the Redskins the following year and it moved to Washington in 1937. Many American professional and collegiate sports teams have nicknames on Native American themes.
The team have won three Super Bowls and are one of the NFL's marquee franchises, ranked by Forbes last August as the league's fifth most valuable franchise at $4.2 billion. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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