A day after FedEx publicly requested that Washington’s NFL team change its name (which is a racial slur), the team has announced that it is launching a “thorough review” of the controversial moniker. According to an anonymous source quoted in the Washington Post who is said to be familiar with the situation, the process “will end with a new name.”
If that’s true, it will cap decades of effort by activists (and many fans) to force the team to drop a name that has become increasingly untenable. Nike apparently pulled all merchandise related to the team off of its site yesterday.
In the statement, the DC team says it has already been in “initial talks” with the league on the subject in recent weeks, a process that is now being formalized.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell also put out a statement about the potential change: “In the last few weeks we have had ongoing discussions with Dan and we are supportive of this important step.”
Rob Brunner grew up in DC and moved back in 2017 to join Washingtonian. Previously, he was an editor and writer at Fast Company and other publications. He lives with his family in Chevy Chase DC.
