After 18 months of deliberation, the NFL‘s Washington Football Team has finally chosen its new name: the Washington Commanders. The club had been using the generic ‘Football Team’ moniker for the last few seasons after deciding to retire its old name, which many viewed as offensive.
The rebrand includes a number of notable changes: from a reserved stripe down the middle of the helmet; an updated ‘W’ logo, featuring lines through the letters offering a beveled look; grilled numbers and a new seal, to a prominent ‘COMMANDERS’ chest hit to complete the uniform. Staying true to its roots, the club opted to keep the fan-favorite burgundy and gold color palette, but added a black iteration as tasteful alternate.
“As an organization, we are excited to rally and rise together as one under our new identity while paying homage to our local roots and what it means to represent the nation’s capital,” co-owner Daniel Snyder said in a statement. “As we kick-off our 90th season, it is important for our organization and fans to pay tribute to our past traditions, history, legacy and the greats that came before us. We continue to honor and represent the Burgundy & Gold while forging a pathway to a new era in Washington. Today may mark the first day for the Washington Commanders, but we are and always will be Washington,” he added.
How We Got Here
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The search for a new identity did not come easy, especially for a club with such a rich and divisive history. As one of the NFL’s original eight teams — known as the Boston Braves back in 1932 before changing to the Redskins — owner George Preston Marshall wanted it to be clear that his club would be known as the league’s “team of the South.” They would go on to play “Dixie” before every game and were the last club to field a Black player — amidst the tide of the Civil Rights Movement.
Despite a series of abysmal seasons that accrued a lot of valuable draft picks, Marshall passed up future stars in Jim Brown to hold out in pride. Marshall finally gave in only after President John F. Kennedy mandated that they must hire a Black player or lose the ability to play in the new D.C. Stadium, which was built on federal-owned land.
“The sincerity in Snyder’s statements comes with suspicion.”
Following Marshall’s death, Jack Kent Cooke took over the club and from the 1970s till his death in 1997, the team reached its apex — appearing in five Super Bowls and winning three. During that time, however, Native American activists began voicing their dissent for the various sports franchises that held questionable mascots — from Stanford University, who switched its name in 1972 from the Indians to the Cardinals, to Washington, the Atlanta Braves and the Kansas City Chiefs — the latter two who continue to resist today.
“If Marshall’s legacy has become inextricably linked to his racism,” wrote Michael Butterworth, Director of the Center for Sports Communication & Media at the University of Texas at Austin, “Cooke’s is tethered to a pattern of questionable relationships with women.” An issue that has carried over to the current owner, Dan Snyder, who along with the pressures surrounding the club’s former moniker, has been embroiled in a series of sexual assault allegations within his organization.
Such statements as the one issued following the name change to ‘Commanders’ come as expected with massive rebrands, but the sincerity in Snyder’s statements comes with suspicion. The Washington owner seldom speaks on such matters to the press and in a 2013 interview with USA TODAY Sports, he brashly stated that he’d never change the team’s name, “It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”
Following the racial protests of 2020 and a string of sexual assault allegations within the Washington Football Team’s organization, Snyder finally rescinded those statements. But again, the legitimacy of Synder’s newly christened fight for justice is still in question. Recently, reports have come out showing that Snyder tried blocking an ex-employee who accused him of sexual misconduct.
What’s Next
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Rebranding a sports team is perhaps one of the toughest entities to approach. Sports, for some, is viewed as a religion. This marker of identity often lives with an individual for life and is passed on to the next generation to follow. As such, Washington took a major step forward in 2020 when retiring the name and hiring current team president, Jason Wright, who became the first Black president in NFL history. An act that reflects a fight for inclusion being felt across all sectors of society, both in the U.S. and abroad.
Both Wright and head coach, Ron Rivera, wanted the new name to reflect the capital’s connection to the military and play into the two popular idioms given to the U.S. president, who is commonly referred to as the ‘commander-in-chief’ and ‘leader of free of world.’
“What this effort really is at its core is not landing on a name that was going to be unanimously loved by everybody but to start a process by which we can continue to preserve what’s best about the Burgundy and Gold,” Wright said today amongst a crowd of former alumni, fans and press. “Those have been colors and a name and a franchise that, when you have trouble talking to each other on other topics, you can come together and hug and high-five and be one while cheering this team on,” he added.
Crystal Echo Hawk, a representative of the IllumiNative non-profit, called the name change a “momentous moment,” adding, that it puts a “horrible chapter to rest. There’s still a lot of healing that needs to happen, so I don’t think the team’s work in regards to reconciliation and healing is over.”
Much is still to be done, regarding the hostile work environments within the NFL and beyond, the racial monikers that persist across all major American sports, along with the discrimination that continues in American society-at-large. But if the [former] “Washington Football Team is a metaphor for the fate of the nation,” as Butterworth added, than the events of the past few years show the true power of contemporary social movements in accomodating the ideals of a changing world.
In related news, Brian Flores is suing the NFL, alleging discrimination.
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