News Redskins Name

The Washington Redskins announced Monday that they will change their team name and logo after about 87 years of using it, in the wake of corporate and public pressure to ditch the moniker over racial connotations.

The Navajo Nation put out a statement on the retirement of the Redskins name.

“July 13, 2020 is now a historic day for all Indigenous peoples around the world as the NFL Washington-based team officially announced the retirement of the racist and disparaging ‘Redskins’ team name and logo,” Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez wrote. “This change did not come about willingly by the team’s owners, but by the mounting pressure and advocacy of Indigenous peoples such as Amanda Blackhorse, and many other warriors who fought long and hard for this change.”

The statement continued: “We strongly encourage the NFL Washington organization to rename their team in such a way that truly honors and respects the First Americans of this country. Renaming the team ‘Code Talkers’ to honor the Navajo Code Talkers, and other tribal nations who used their sacred language to help win World War II, would set the team on a path to restoring its reputation and correcting the historical misrepresentation of Indigenous peoples.”

The Washington franchise has yet to announce a new team name.

Washington has come under renewed fire over the term Redskins in recent weeks, with FedEx publicly requesting that the team change its name. The company reportedly threatened to remove signage from the stadium as well if the team didn’t make the alteration by the end of the 2020 season.

Big-name retailers such as Amazon, Walmart and Target, as well as Nike and Dick’s Sporting Goods, all removed Redskins merchandise from their websites last week.

Also last week, ESPN reported that the team had made the decision to remove the Native American imagery from its logo.

The recent national focus on race relations, prompted by the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, brought new scrutiny of the team’s name. That’s when the Redskins said they would conduct a “thorough review” of the team name.

The team also hopes to build a new stadium and return inside DC city limits.

“On July 3rd, we announced the commencement of a thorough review of the team’s name. That review has begun in earnest. As part of this process, we want to keep our sponsors, fans and community apprised of our thinking as we go forward.

“Today, we are announcing we will be retiring the Redskins name and logo upon completion of this review.

“[Owner] Dan Snyder and Coach [Ron] Rivera are working closely to develop a new name and design approach that will enhance the standing of our proud, tradition rich franchise and inspire our sponsors, fans and community for the next 100 years.”

The Redskins name has been a point of controversy and it is finally being changed after owner Dan Snyder finishes his "review". So why is that not the biggest story for Washington's fans right now? Because there have been rumors and teases of a huge story coming about that implicates a lot of the top people at Redskins Park. From executives to coaches, and possibly even Dan Snyder himself.

The whispers started on Sunday night before Washington's name announcement the following morning. They have continued throughout the week with some national personalities chiming in.

The Redskins reportedly fired Director of Pro Personnel Alex Santos and Assistant Director of Pro Personnel Richard Mann II. These two former executives will reportedly be named in whatever mess is being reported. Chief Content Officer/Senior VP/”Voice of the Redskins” Larry Michael suddenly announced his retirement yesterday after 16+ years with the organization.

There hasn’t been a single word from Redskins Park to confirm any of these moves. The only announcement was that Jeff Scott was taking over Mann’s job. Eric Stokes is reportedly being brought over from the Panthers to replace Santos, but that’s not official yet. There was also a report that former Redskins great Don Warren was being hired for Mann's job, but that isn't happening now.

The endless stream of teases has annoyed fans, but has started to paint a bad picture of whats coming out today.. Some of the messages have gone beyond simple implication and stated flatly that the coming bad news is connected directly to the firings of two senior executives, Alex Santos and Richard Mann. The words “sexism” and “racism” have been thrown out there, along with the description, “toxic culture”, so we have some strong hints about the nature of the coming revelations.

Dan Snyder's minority partners in ownership of the team all want out. They pushed him for a name change, but they are also reportedly not interested in partnering with him personally. Did they know the hammer was dropping soon?

One question that might be popping up in your mind right now is why there seems to be so much mystery here. Why are reporters “teasing” this story instead of reporting it?

The answer seems to be that people in the media have heard rumors, or they have sources who are unwilling to go on record yet — that the bad news is out there in unreportable form until someone can meet the usual standards of journalism needed to publicly break the story. Why do I feel as if I may be reading the first official account of this on TMZ?

Then there is this thread from an old friend of the site:

There are very serious accusations flying around, and even speculation that this could lead to Dan Snyder losing his team. We'll have you covered whenever this story is finally released.