(Reuters) – The National Football League’s Washington Football Team said on Tuesday they will reveal their new name on Feb. 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 their 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.
“We can’t wait to hit the ground running with our team name and identity on a clear path — one without distracting obstacles, legal or otherwise,” team president Jason Wright said in a statement.
“And while we’ve always understood it would be a nearly impossible task to select a name that all of our fans would identify with as their first pick, we are very excited about our final selection, which aligns with our values, carries forth our rich history, represents the region and, most importantly, is inspired and informed by you, our fans.”
Wolves and RedWolves had been popular suggestions among fans during the rebranding process.
“Once we began looking into Wolves … we became aware of a notable challenge: trademarks held by other teams would limit our ability to make the name our own,” Wright said.
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.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)
