A change has finally come to Washington, D.C.
Following decades of pressure to stop using a racial slur as its team name, Washington’s NFL team, the Washington Redskins, announced Monday that it will finally change.
“On July 3rd we announced the commencement of a thorough review of the team’s name. That review has begun in earnest,” the team said in a statement on Monday. Today, we are announcing we will be retiring the Redskins name and logo upon completion of this review.”
A new name and logo will be announced at a later date after a thorough review, the team said.
Dan Snyder, who bought the team in 1999, previously said the team would “never” change its name. What he once argued was an honor to Native Americans, Snyder announced that they decided to remove the name Redskins “in light of recent events around our country and feedback from our community.”
“Dan Snyder and Coach 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 team said.
And just in case you actually believed the team’s name change was caused by conscience, it was actually because of a change in their pockets.
Redskins sponsors influenced the change in consideration. FedEx, who has naming rights of the field in which the team plays, asked the team to change its name earlier this month.
“We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name,” FedEx told CNN Business in a statement.
PepsiCo and Nike followed suit, with the sports apparel company also allegedly removing all of the Washington team’s merchandise from their online store.
According to Adweek, 87 investment firms and shareholders asked the three companies to terminate their relationship with the organization unless it changed their name.