The Washington Redskins has recently announced to conduct a ‘thorough review” of their team’s name due to the growing pressure of their sponsors, Native American groups, and the city’s mayor.
The statement was released on Friday highlighting the reason that led the team to reconsider their team name and announce that they will conduct an absolute review. The statement revealed, “This review formalizes the initial discussions the team has been having with the league in recent weeks.”
Friday’s statement was disclosed after Washington Redskins formally received the name-change request from one of its title sponsors, FedEx. While Nike has not given any such statement yet they silently abandoned all the merchandise from their online store that had the team’s name or logo.
The debate on changing the name has been going on in the past years however, Redskins’ owner, Synder has remained persistent on keeping the name even though the American leaders were demanding the name change. Synder call Redskins “a badge of honor”
Though Friday’s statement didn’t include any formal announcement about the name change, the Synder’s response to conduct the thorough review was definitely a positive departure.
Moreover, a few days ago, Ron Rivera – the new Redskins coach – said in his statement to radio station 670 The Score that discussing the name change at this time isn’t the right thing to do. Nonetheless, in Friday’s statement, Rivera seemed to be in favour of changing the name of the team.
Over the past years, the Washington Redskins has faced multiple challenges regarding the name and often called out for “racist name” by native American groups.
The latest name change request has emerged in the form letters that were sent to the FedEx, Nike and PepsiCo by 87 different firms. It is reported that these companies have combined assets of $620 billion.
FedEx responded to their letters by issuing a formal statement requesting the team to change their name. Not to forget, six years ago, FedEx shareholders voted in favour of Redskins name when the Wisconsin-based Oneida Indian tribe filed a complaint.
Washington Redskins is also not appearing among other NFL teams on the site.