An (Un) Welcome Change to DC Football

An (Un)welcome Change to DC Football The Washington Football Team’s final name change to the Commanders leaves fans disappointed By Jack Grzebien

While the league prompted this change, fans of the Washington football team felt the new name “Commanders” was lukewarm.

The Washington Football Team, formerly known as the “Washington Redskins,” is undergoing its second name change in three seasons. The team’s initial name changed from “Redskins” to “Football Team” because the National Football League (NFL) and others believed that the name was not politically correct and was demeaning towards the Native American population. Since then the organization has taken steps to create a new team name and brand of the team for years to come. Once the “Redskins” name was removed from the Washington organization, management reached out to their fans and asked for submissions of new team names. According to Matt Weyrich of NBC Sports, there were more than 40,000 submissions to the team with name ideas. Of those submissions, the names “Wolves” and “Red Wolves” were a fan favorite. These names, however, were shot down fast by the team President Jason Wright. Wright in a press conference, about the “Wolves” and “Red Wolves” names, noted that “trademarks held by other teams would limit our ability to make the name our own.” This statement came to the dismay of many fans who had even purchased custom gear that already had “Wolves” and “Red Wolves” on it. The organization announced that on February 2, 2022, the new team name would be revealed. The entire fanbase was happy about this as there would finally be closure to a years-long issue and debate over the team name. Avid fan James Barker ‘22 remarked that he did not want the team name to be Commanders, saying “I want a name that connects back to the fan base.” James, and many other fans, support the name “Hogs’’ or “Red-Hogs” because of the late 1980s and early 1990s offensive line which was known as the Hogs. On February 2, to the dismay of many fans, the team announced that the new team name would be the Commanders. This announcement, however, was not a shock to many avid fans because the night before one of NBC’s news helicopters flew over FedEx field and saw a banner with “Commanders” on it hanging inside. This video from the helicopter went semi-viral throughout the NFL world. Dan Synder, the owner of the Commanders, stated in a press release; “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.”The name “Commander” does not only reference and glorify Washington’s position as the nation’s capital and houses our Commander-in-Chief but also gives recognition to the men and women of our armed forces.