Washington will call itself the ‘Washington Football Team’ until further notice
On the same day that they announced the signing of their first-round pick, the NFL franchise formerly named the Washington Redskins will be going by the temporary name of the Washington Football Team, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, while the ongoing search and deliberation of a new nickname continues. The team formally retired the racially charged name and logo that they had sported form nearly a century almost two weeks ago after mounting financial pressure finally forced them to make a change to their brand that was long overdue.
“The decision to use ‘Washington Football Team’ for this season allows the franchise the ability to undertake an in-depth branding process to properly include player, alumni, fan, community, and sponsor input,” the team said in a press release. “To date, we have been pleased to see so many people putting forward their vision of what the new name and design should be on their social media channels and we look forward to including their feedback as this process progresses.”
Washington shared that it would continue the process of “retiring all Redskins branding from all team digital spaces and platforms as well as all physical properties,” including FedEx Field and Redskins Park.
In addition to the announcing of a temporary nickname, the team will also be sporting new uniforms that will feature the same burgundy and gold color scheme. The Redskins logo decal on the helmets will be replaced by the players’ jersey numbers in gold.
Since there will be no preseason this year, they will be debuting their new home threads in Week One of the regular season in a divisional matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles and their road uniforms the following week against the Arizona Cardinals.
Washington hired former chief marketing officer Terry Bateman earlier this week in the same capacity to assist in its “name change and branding process” and this appears to be the first step in what will be a lengthy rebrand for a team that was popularly known as the Redskins for 87 years dating back to 1933.
