Rebranding Process Complete After 2 Years As The Washington Football Team

ASHBURN, VA — After two seasons as the Washington Football Team, the area's NFL franchise will announce a new name, logo and branding on Wednesday morning.

The rebranding process for the franchise has been in the works for nearly two years. When they announced the original shift in 2020, team officials noted that the Washington Football Team moniker would be a placeholder as the franchise found a new identity.

The Washington football franchise is no stranger to name changes. In 1932, the franchise began play as the Boston Braves. The next year, the team was renamed the Boston Redskins, a name the organization kept after moving to Washington, D.C., in 1937. For more than 80 years, the Washington Redskins, as they were known, were a mainstay of the NFL.

For years, Native American activists urged the franchise to change its name. Some considered it a slur, while others believed the use of a Native American mascot perpetuated stereotypes.

Billy "Redwing" Tayac was the chief of the Piscataway Indian Tribe before he died in 2021. Tayac began urging the franchise to change its name in the mid-1980s, according to ABC News.

"The name is racist; that's what you've got to understand," Tayac told ABC News in 2020. "It's a racial slur for Native Americans. It's derogatory."

For years, the organization was firm in its commitment to the name. Dan Snyder, the owner of the franchise, made his intentions clear in several interviews since he purchased the team in 1999.

"We'll never change the name," Snyder told USA Today in 2013. "It's that simple. NEVER — you can use caps."

In summer 2020, things changed. The murder of George Floyd that May sparked protests across the country and caused many organizations and people to reflect on race and ethnicity.

In July 2020, FedEx officials said they wrote to the franchise and asked the team to change the name. FedEx, which paid $200,000,000 for the rights to the team's stadium in Landover, Maryland, was one of several companies that pressured the franchise. In July 2020, Nike removed the team's apparel from its online store.

On July 13, 2020, the pressure caught up to the team. Snyder and team officials announced they would begin the process of changing the organization's mascot, branding and identity.

"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," the Navajo Nation said in a statement after the announcement. "For generations, this team name and logo has misrepresented the true history and events that define the term."

Before the 2020 NFL season, the franchise adopted the Washington Football Team as a placeholder name while considering options. It kept the name for the 2021 season.

Through the process, franchise officials said they tried to involve as many community members as possible. The team accepted more than 15,000 name suggestions from fans through its website.

"We set out to make the rebranding of this storied franchise a truly collaborative and inclusive process," team president Jason Wright said in 2021. "As we close the process of formal fan submissions, we will continue to engage with the community through various platforms." Wright said the team kept fans engaged through Reddit forums, a docuseries and regular briefs on the team's website.

Read more: Washington Football Team Bans Native Headdresses At Games

During its time as the Washington Football Team, many fans and team alumni expressed apprehension about the organization's name change. Joe Gibbs, who led the team to three Super Bowl victories as a head coach, described the change as "bittersweet."

"I grew up in North Carolina. The only football team we could get on TV was the Redskins. And everything in my house is Redskins. So…that’s part of our history," Gibbs said on an NBC Sports Washington radio show last week.

Still, Gibbs said he'd support the franchise's new direction. "Whatever that name is, we are Washington football fans, and we’re gonna get behind it," Gibbs continued.

Tanya Snyder, the wife of Dan Snyder, was named the co-CEO of the franchise in summer 2021. In the fall, she announced that several names had been chosen as finalists in the rebranding process.

Armada, Presidents, Brigade, Red Hogs, Commanders, Defenders, Red Wolves and the Washington Football Team were the original finalists.

In January, Wright said that the team was no longer considering the Red Wolves name due to concerns about trademarks and potential legal concerns.

"The prospect of years of litigation wasn't something that we wanted you, our fans, to have to bear as you begin to embrace a new brand," he said.

Read more: Top Choices For Washington Football Team Name Found In Survey

On Wednesday, the rebranding process will come to an end. The franchise will unveil a new name, logo and uniforms.

"We are confident that this identity is one that our team and our fans across D.C., Maryland, Virginia and beyond can rally behind for another 90 years and more," Wright said, "as we continue to cheer on the Burgundy & Gold in this next chapter."

Read more: New Washington Football Team Name, Logo To Be Unveiled Feb. 2

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