The Washington Redskins are reportedly set to retire its nickname and controversial mascot and images on Monday. Ben Fischer of Sports Business Daily wrote on Sunday that the nearly two-week review of the team’s decades-old name is about to be over and, as expected, will lead to a change. Just what the new name will be isn’t yet known.
Fischer wrote that the new nickname won’t be announced at the same time Redskins gets retired because there are pending trademark issues. The report indicates the team has decided on its new name but can’t unveil it just yet. Fischer said the front office is making the Monday announcement without the ability to complete the change because it wanted to remove any doubt a change was coming.
The reporter noted that the timeline for completing the change isn’t yet known. The organization wants to make sure everyone sees there is a sense of urgency around getting rid of the Redskins name.
Barry Werner of Touchdown Wire pointed out on Sunday that the announcement of a new nickname is the culmination of an interesting change of mind for the team’s owner. Daniel Snyder had been on record for years expressing his lack of interest in changing the name.
Snyder has even gone on record as saying he believed it was a “badge of honor” to keep the Redskins name.
Werner added the team made another move signaling a change was imminent shortly after initial reports started circulating the web. The team is reportedly telling partners to scrub the name Redskins from their websites in anticipation of no longer selling merchandise associated with the nickname.
Despite Snyder once pledging that the name would remain as long as he was the owner, analysts have noted the speed at which the front office has changed its position this month.
In the wake of social justice demonstrations in several cities around the country, the Redskins nickname received increased scrutiny. As The Inquisitr previously reported, Snyder announced a review of the name one day after Nike removed any mention of the team from its website, and business partner FedEx put pressure on the front office for a change.
Since the team announced the review, reports have surfaced that FedEx and other Redskins business partners have continued to keep the heat on Snyder. Some analysts believe the pressure came because those business partners didn’t believe the front office was moving fast enough. If the report about Monday is true, it was a mere nine days from the announcement of a review to the official retirement of the Redskins nickname.
