Washington Redskins confirm new name
Owner Dan Snyder reluctantly agreed to change the name, which is considered racist by some Native American groups, after pressure from sponsors
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Your support makes all the difference.Washington’s NFL team have confirmed that they will call themselves the “Washington Football Team”, effective immediately.
The name is not a final renaming or rebranding for the team, but it will be used moving forward pending adoption of a new name in the future.
The NFL franchise are in the process of retiring the Redskins name and intend to remove the name from all digital and physical space associated with the team.
Native American groups have long argued that both the name of the team and the main logo are racist, with support for a change increasing alongside the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd.
The NFL side changed their social media handles on Thursday, switching to @WashingtonNFL, while "redskins.com" was removed from the account's bio.
A team statement read: "For updated brand clarity and consistency purposes, we will call ourselves the "Washington Football Team" pending adoption of our new name. The Redskins name and logo will officially be retired by the start of the 2020 season. We encourage fans, media and all other parties to use "Washington Football Team" immediately.
"The decision to use "Washington Football Team" for this season allows the franchise the ability to undertake an in-depth branding process to properly include player, alumni, fan, community, and sponsor input. To date, we have been pleased to see so many people putting forward their vision of what the new name and design should be on their social media channels and we look forward to including their feedback as this process progresses.
"Starting tomorrow and over the next 50 days, we will begin the process of retiring all Redskins branding from team properties whether it be FedExField, Redskins Park, other physical and digital spaces. We hope to complete this process in full by the team's home opener against the Philadelphia Eagles on September 13."
Players Ryan Kerrigan, Jonathan Allen, Landon Collins, Dwayne Haskins, Ryan Kerrigan, Daron Payne and Chase Young have been used to display the uniform concepts with just ‘Washington’ on the front of the jersey.
The new helmets will not feature the former ‘Redskins’ logo, instead each player’s number will be displayed on the side.
Despite the name change, the colour scheme of the team will not change though, with burgundy and gold the primary colours for the home uniform.
The new design, alongside the new name, will be present for the first time in Week 1 against divisional rivals Philadelphia Eagles.
The team apparel will remain for the 2020 season, though ongoing feedback of players, alumni, fans, sponsors and the community will contribute to the future team name.
There are also plans to roll out official merchandise in the coming days.
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