It looks like the two-minute warning for the Washington football team’s disparaging name.
On Friday, after mounting corporate pressure, the team announced “a thorough review of the team’s controversial nickname,” according to The Washington Post.
Team owner Dan Snyder said the review would “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.” N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell‘s statement suggested that the League had been “ongoing discussions” with Snyder for “a few weeks.”
The organization has faced criticism for decades due to its startlingly offensive nickname. While the franchise is not the only professional sports team to use Native American iconography, it is undoubtedly the most egregious.
The team plays out of FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, and on Thursday FedEx made a formal request that the name finally be changed.
Additionally, the Washington football team’s merchandise is now no longer available for purchase on Nike’s online store. (Using its mascot as a search term on Nike.com gives you a “we could not find anything” response, unlike, say, “49ers,” which offers branded hoodies, jerseys and T-shirts.)
A request for a statement from Nike was not returned.
Last week, letters sent by a total of 87 investment interests worth $620 billion requested that FedEx, PepsiCo, and Nike to halt business relationships with the Washington team until the name was changed, according to AdWeek.
In 2013, team owner Snyder told USA Today “we will never change the name of the team,” then added “NEVER — you can use caps.” At the time Snyder was in the midst of a lengthy trademark dispute, in which plaintiffs accused the team’s name of being disparaging. (The specifics of this case are complex.)
Ire at the Washington team’s name, has begun anew following the George Floyd protests. On June 2, when the team took part in a social media blackout day, New York Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez took that opportunity to remind the organization that if they wanted to stand for racial justice, they could change their name.
A statue of the team’s founder (and segregationist) George Preston Marshall, which was outside the team’s former home of RFK Stadium, had “change the name” spray painted on it before it was trucked away on June 19. His name was removed from “Redskins Ring of Fame” as well.