Josh Harris should change Washington’s team name, but I don’t think he will
June 3, 2024
by Steve Thomas
If you’ve been paying attention to this website for any length of time, it shouldn’t be breaking news for me to, once again, state exactly how much I hate the name “Commanders”. The truth is that the name change from “Redskins”, which was the living embodiment of everything I loved about NFL football, to the current name did more to ruin my fandom than anything Dan Snyder did. I’ve never cared much for political correctness arguments generally, much less when they involved a nickname that was always intended as an honor, was beloved by a big segment of the Native American population, and was accompanied by a serious, well-done logo. For the most part, arguments against things like team nicknames are brought by unserious people who need to find something productive to do with their lives. Feel free to yell at me for this opinion.
Don’t get me wrong: Snyder’s bad behavior and atrocious management had a terrible impact on the franchise. However, there was a perverse humor in it – Snyder was a scumbag, but he was our scumbag. We still loved the team and reveled in its history despite him. The name change, though, destroyed everything. In one fell swoop, not only did one of my favorite lifelong hobbies die, but team management seemingly eliminated every last vestige of the team’s glorious past. I was able to fool myself somewhat with “Washington Football Team”, but the C-Word name was the last straw.
I’d like to point out two things about this nickname: a “Commander” is either the rank of a mid-career United States Navy officer, or the team is telling the world that everyone is a commander. The latter, of course, means that nobody is actually in charge, and has the stink of the “everyone gets a trophy” mindset of modern youth athletics. Either way, it’s an awful nickname.
When Josh Harris purchased the team, coming into DC as the savior of a beaten-down fanbase, the hopes of the people were renewed with the thought that he might come in and immediately either restore “Redskins” to its rightful glory, or at least change the name to something that (1) isn’t awful, and (2) has some sort of link to team history. To date, that hasn’t happened.
I repeat all of this now not because you really need to hear it again, but because there’s been a renewed talk of a name change thanks to a recent poll by the Washington Post that revealed that a majority of DC-area sports fans either “hate” or “dislike” the C-Words nickname. The poll also revealed that only 16% of fans think the team should retain the nickname. Then, Harris’ wife, Marjorie, indicated that a name change wasn’t in the short term plans, stating, “. . . you know what, it sounds pretty good to me. So, for now, it’s the Commanders.” (Source: Fox News)
Clearly, I’m willing to be the one to jump to the front of the name change train. I hate the C-Words nickname that much, but unfortunately, it seems like it simply isn’t going to happen any time soon. The NFL Constitution requires teams to wait five years to change a team name, except in the case of extenuating circumstances such as an ownership change. This means that, for the time being, the team’s ownership group could make a change if they wanted to do so. This privilege will probably expire at some point, at least informally, although the NFL Constitution doesn’t give a specific time limit.
However, I suspect that Harris and company most likely don’t want to spend the money to make a change. Remember, Harris doesn’t have the same life-long history with “Redskins” as do many of the fans. He probably thinks that if the team starts winning again for the first time in a generation that the fans will eventually get on board. Not only that, but there’s an entire generation of fans who are too young to have a connection with the glory days. At this point, the last Super Bowl is more than three decades in life’s rearview mirror. Anyone in their early 30s and younger have no memories of those great Joe Gibbs teams and can only relate to the disastrous Snyder years. “Redskins” is special to those of us who are old enough to remember, but the simple fact is that marketing professionals don’t focus on that age group. They care about the younger set, who have a whole lifetime of product support ahead of them.
So, while the majority of the overall fanbase, most likely including the overwhelming majority of the over-40 group, would love the name “Commanders” to die the quick but painful death that it deserves, it’s becoming less and less likely with every passing day. After all, rebranding is very expensive, and businesses typically can’t or don’t want to just keep redoing it. Harris seems to be betting that those of us banging the name change drum will eventually be quiet, either because the team starts to win, we get tired and just surrender, or we get too old to care.
There is some good news, though – one thing that might actually matter is the team’s effort to trademark the name “Commanders”. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has thusfar refused to grant the team’s trademark application because of the existence of some other, similar marks. Normally, those sorts of disputes can be resolved with an agreement between the parties, usually involving money. However, if an agreement can’t be worked out, and the USPTO doesn’t relent, then at some point the team will have to go another direction. I’m not an intellectual property attorney, but as a practicing transactional attorney who’s been involved in business deals for a long time, that seems unlikely to me, because settlements happen every day. It is possible, though, so those of you on my side of this dispute should be rooting for this as the potential method of getting rid of the name.
Don’t get your hopes up too much, though – the betting odds are on “Commanders” being here to stay, unfortunately.
What do you think? Let me know in the comment section.