A "simple" question from Kevin Sheehan: "Does it make sense for new ownership to look into bringing [the name] Redskins back?"
While the question on its face is as Sheehan described on Tuesday morning a simple one, it does not lead to a simple answer nor does it even lead to a simple conversation for Washington football fans.
"I think you could make the case that it would be a good PR move for them to cross every t, dot every i on the name, on the associated branding and tell everybody 'one of the things we looked into was whether or not it was feasible to bring the old name back," Sheehan said.
"Even if they have no intention of doing that, it actually may be beneficial for them to kind of placate those that are hellbent on getting the team name back," he added. "Look, I've gotten to the point where [I know] it ain't happening. I understand it's not happening, trust me. You cannot put that horse into the barn. And there's a business case to be made for new ownership to say, 'Why would we go back to something that was controversial when it's already been lost?' It's one thing to try to keep it when it's part of our brand and it's very valuable if we think there's a case to be made for keeping it. It's another for it to be gone for three seasons and then bring it back. There's a case to say 'We looked into everything, we looked into the old name to see if it was feasible to bring that back, and cutting to the chase the league would probably not approve it and so, we moved on from that because we wouldn't be able to get it approved. To sort of push the blame somewhere else, may not be a bad move."
Overall, Sheehan said it would make sense for the new ownership group – whether that be the Josh Harris-led group who are in poll position or somebody else – to look into it, but it will not result in the old name coming back.
"And I think you could make the case, even someone like me who was so pro-name," Sheehan said, "that it wouldn't be good business at this point to bring it back for all of the people that would be jumping back in full-boar, you would then start your ownership with even more activism against it because they finally got what they wanted and then somebody brought it back."
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The team announced a review of the name and ultimately transitioned from the name Redskins in July 2020, and played the next two seasons as the Washington Football Team before adopting the nickname Commanders on Feb. 2, 2022. The change came after several sponsors began to question their relationship with the team due to the name and after decades of opposition from Native Americans and Native groups.
A study published in early 2020 by academics at the University of Michigan and UC Berkeley surveyed more than 1,000 Native Americans, and roughly half of the participants said they were offended by the Redskins’ name. The survey also said 65 percent of respondents said they were offended by sports fans performing a “tomahawk chop,” and 73 percent said they were offended by fans imitating Native American dances, per the Washingtonian.
Native American groups, like the National Congress of American Indians, had long opposed the name and argued the organization framing the name as an honorific was false.
"Despite the team’s arguments to the contrary, the R-word is not a term of honor or respect, but rather, a term that still connotes racism and genocide for Native peoples and for all others who know of this history and recognize that it is wrong to characterize people by the color of their skin," the NCAI said.
"The use of the R-word as the name and mascot of the Washington National Football League team is offensive and hurtful to American Indian and Alaska Native people and causes direct, harmful effects on the physical and mental health and academic achievement of the American Indian and Alaska Native populations, particularly youth."
In July 2020, when the team announced they would undergo a review of the nickname, NCAI president Fawn Sharp said, "This moment has been 87 years in the making, and we have reached this moment thanks to decades of tireless efforts by tribal leaders, advocates, citizens, and partners to educate America about the origins and meaning of the R-word."
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