Tag: Team Name

Ranking potential Washington Football Team names from best (WFT) to worst (Presidents), plus suggestions

Your definitive ranking for Washington Football Team names

It feels like we’ve been waiting forever for an official announcement on the Washington Football Team name change.

The team changed its name to the Washington Football Team for last season and it’s sort of stuck as the new moniker ever since. Folks have grown accustomed to it and it has a certain ring to it.

Despite people’s support behind Washington Football Team as the new name, the organization hasn’t yet committed it or anything else as its official new branding.

That’s going to change fairly soon, though. The organization is reportedly down to its final three names, Front Office Sports reports.

There’s another wrinkle in this, however. Apparently, Team President Jason Wright confirmed they are, indeed, down to the final 3 names. But they were not derived from this list.

So we could really get ANYTHING as the name at this point. We have no idea what direction the team is going to go in.

But we’re going to have fun with this, anyway. Here’s a ranking of the reported names out there from best to worst. And, because I’m nice, here are a few other suggestions from myself as a native DMVer.

This will be fun.

6 possible Washington nicknames after the elimination of Warriors

The Washington Football Team will have a new name and logo in early 2022. It won’t be Warriors. Here are six possibilities.

It’s been a busy week as it pertains to the Washington Football Team and its impending rebrand. Team president Jason Wright recently sat down with Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post and said the new name and logo would be revealed in early 2022.

Not long after Jhabvala’s story on Wright, the team president published a memo on the team’s official website confirming the nickname “Warriors” would not be Washington’s new nickname. That had been a popular choice for some fans.

Where does Washington go now?

We’ve compiled a list of six possible nicknames for the Washington Football Team now that one of the previous favorites has been eliminated.

Keep in mind that these aren’t necessarily our top choices, but some of the names discussed over the past year.

Washington president Jason Wright says new team name will not be Warriors

Jason Wright confirmed the new team name would not be Warriors.

In an interview with Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post last week, Washington team president Jason Wright confirmed the team’s new name and logo would be unveiled in early 2022.

Now, we know one of the top contenders — at least among some group of fans — will not be the choice.

In a written memo on Washington’s official website, Wright said the name “Warriors” would not be an option.

In sum, this engagement demonstrated to us a consensus that moving forward with no ties to Native American imagery is the right path. I am personally and deeply grateful for the Native American community leaders who engaged with us, sharing painful, raw and real stories that persist to this day. Their stories affirmed our decision to move in a new direction in the creation of our new name and identity, and we are proudly forging ahead in this journey with a promise to our community — a promise to continue to be inclusive in our process and collaborative with our fans.

In the spirit of that engagement, I want to address a name that has emerged amongst our fanbase, “Warriors.” One might look at this name as a natural, and even harmless transition considering that it does not necessarily or specifically carry a negative connotation. But as we learned through our research and engagement with various groups, “context matters” and that makes it a “slippery slope.” Feedback from across communities we engaged clearly revealed deep-seated discomfort around Warriors, with the clear acknowledgment that it too closely aligns with Native American themes. Such an embrace of potentially Native-adjacent iconography and imagery would not represent a clear departure that many communities have so forcefully advocated for us to embrace, and that frankly, we set out to do when we started this process a year ago.

While Wright did not discuss any other possible team names, he did say the new name should “unite us” and acknowledged how some fans would be disappointed.

 

 

 

 

Washington choosing a new team name before 2021 is looking unlikely

According to team president Jason Wright, it’s unlikely that Washington decides on a new team name before the 2021 season.

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If you’re a fan of the Washington Football Team, I can almost assure you that a question that you’ve answered more than once this year goes something like this:

“Are they really called the Washington Football Team? When are they going to change their name?”

We’re all used to it at this point, and it’s pretty easy to laugh off with a shrug. However, the question still stands — when is the WFT going to change their name and pick something new?

Well, according to team president Jason Wright, it still could be a little while.

“Everybody needs to take a deep breath,” Wright said in an interview with WJLA. “It’s not coming tomorrow. It’s a business decision, we need to understand that market. More importantly, it’s important to engage the community and the fans. We’re also in the process of identifying the folks that should weigh in over time. We want this name and brand to represent the entire area, to represent the fan base, but to also attract new folks to this fan base. We want to grow this fan base as part of our new identity.”

If you were to take to social media and try to get a sense of what the loudest fans are in favor of, suggestions of Redwolves, Redtails, Capitals, and Warriors would likely be prevalent, along with the stubborn few who stand by the opinion that the name should have never changed in the first place. No matter which camp you’re in, though, it may be at least one more season as the ‘Football Team’ before anything really changes.

“I think next year is fast because of how the brand has to come together through uniforms, through approval processes through the league,” Wright said. “Next year is fast. There is a pretty good chance we will still be the Washington Football Team next season. We could get there quicker, it’s actually pretty hard to get there that quickly because of all the steps that need to happen.”

It’s not the end of the world, but it does mean that you’ll need to keep answering those annoying questions for the time being.

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Report: Dan Snyder hints at keeping ‘Washington Football Team’ as permanent name

With the Washington fans searching for a name for the team in the future, Snyder reportedly says he might keep it as the ‘Football Team.’

While much of the NFL fanbase is focused on the upcoming slate of games to open up the 2020 season, a bit of news dropped in Washington via a Wall Street Journal article that was released. In the article, team owner Dan Snyder was asked about the name change in Washington, which was changed after a public push earlier this offseason, and what his thoughts on it going forward was.

According to the WSJ, in an email, Snyder said that there is a possibility that the team keeps the name ‘The Washington Football Team’ going forward if it catches on with fans.

This may be a horrifying notion to many fans who have been pining for a new team name in the coming months or year, with a huge rally for ‘Redwolves’ growing strong. The WFT has been the butt of a number of jokes this summer, for obvious reasons, but if they choose to stick with simply the most vanilla name there is, the ridicule may never end.

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REACTION: Best tweets following team’s rebrand as ‘Washington Football Team’

Social Media went crazy with jokes and reactions after Washington rebranded as the ‘Football Team’ on Thursday afternoon.

It was reported on Thursday afternoon that the team formerly known as the Washington Redskins will now be called the Washington Football Team going forward, until a new name and logo is decided upon.

With the new name comes new jerseys, which will feature the same color scheme and basic design, though the former team name and logo will be removed. On the helmets, each player’s number will be featured instead of the logo.

According to the report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the new name will be decided on with input from former and current players, fans, and sponsors. It is unknown when a new name will be decided upon, but you can plan to go by the current ‘Football Team’ throughout the 2020 season.

Fans and players alike had a field day on social media once the announcement was made.

 

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As Washington changes its team name, attention could soon shift to the Chiefs

Washington changing their team name draws focus to the problems that still persist with the Kansas City Chiefs’ team name.

With news that Washington has officially decided to retire its team name, the focus could soon shift to the Kansas City Chiefs.

I already know what you’re thinking.

“But why? ‘Chiefs’ isn’t a racial slur like the Washington team name.”

The situations aren’t entirely alike — the Chiefs’ team name is decidedly not a racial slur like Washington’s. The problem is that the franchise continues to perpetuate racist stereotypes of Native Americans. Part of it has to do with the nature of the team name as it relates to Native American culture.

Some mental gymnastics, often utilized by fans to defend the name, is the origin of the team name. Yes, the team wasn’t directly named with Native Americans in mind. Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt and general manager Jack Steadman opted to name the franchise after Kansas City mayor, H. Roe Bartle, whose nickname was “The Chief.” His nickname, however, came from being a founding member of the Tribe of Mic-O-Say — a boy scout troop that wore Native American garb such as headdresses. That takes us to the crux of the issue.

Fans still flock to Arrowhead Stadium donning faux headdresses, they’re not banned from the stadium. Warpaint, the team’s mascot horse, appears to be a permanent fixture for Kansas City since the 50th anniversary of the team in 2009. The team even built a ‘drum deck’ for their pregame ritual, which helps lead fans in perhaps the most problematic item — The Tomahawk Chop.

The chop has become a fixture at Arrowhead Stadium. It’s practically synonymous with the gameday experience. It has become normalized to the extent that fans believe it’s entirely innocuous — that it doesn’t mock Native culture in any way. Even if the team decided to get rid of it, fans would probably partake themselves, it’s that embedded.

While these particular instances I’ve pointed out might not be offensive to all — they’re offensive to some Native Americans — and that’s a problem. How that imagery portrayed truly impacts Native people is also a problem. The biggest problem for the team, however, is that they don’t actively discourage these things from happening. In some cases, they still encourage them.

The Chiefs franchise deserves some credit, though. Every step of the way they’ve tried to be better. When the franchise first moved to Kansas City in 1963 they commissioned a logo that featured a caricature of a Native American, donning headdress and loincloth, whilst carrying a football and raising a tomahawk. It was a problematic and racist depiction of Native peoples.

When the team moved to Arrowhead Stadium in 1972, they moved away from that logo entirely, adopting the Arrowhead logo.

Later, they’d work to eliminate Native American imagery from all officially licensed NFL merchandise in an effort to quash any stereotypes perpetuated by the franchise.

Since 2014, the franchise has celebrated American Indian Heritage Month as part of its commitment to honoring the Native community. They take part in a number of pregame festivities and education opportunities for fans to honor and learn about Native culture.

The franchise has shown the willingness to listen and change, but what comes next? Sure, the franchise has done plenty of good to correct issues surrounding their team name. At what point does the team stop working to correct issues that persist and simply move away from the nickname causing those issues in the first place?

It might not happen tomorrow, but surely within the next year, this franchise will have to look themselves in the mirror and face some tough questions. The Chiefs are scheduled to play the NFC East and the newly-named Washington team in 2021, so perhaps that is when things will come to a turning point for Kansas City.

At the end of the day, it’ll take more than loud fans or critical headlines for the team to take action. The final straw for Washington was sponsors threatening to pull out of their deals if the team refused to change its name. And as Washington made clear in their official statement, keeping the sponsors happy was their top priority in this decision.

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Updated betting odds given for Washington’s next team name

A list of betting odds have been given for what name Washington will likely go with for their next team name.

If you’re a fan of both the Washington Redskins, and the occasional sports gambling wager, you’re in luck.

Amidst the news that Washington is potentially/likely to change its team name before the 2020 season, a number of sites have released odds on what the next name will be. At OddsShark, they have a complete list of options, set with handicaps.

Courtesy of OddsShark Website.

‘Redtails’ is out in the lead, and it seems to have the most favor among fans, many of whom are fascinated by its backstory of a WWII Tuskegee Airmen group that was the first African American aviators in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Other options like the Presidents, Generals, or Memorials have been mentioned, but they don’t feel like great options. Some names that are not on the aforementioned list that seem to be popular on social media are Warriors, Redspears, Sentinels, or Braves. Some are against the Warriors’ name since it is already commonly known as the Golden State team who has been so dominant recently in the NBA, and the Braves would be a switch back to the old, as that was the Redskins name before the first initial change.

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