A plan to bring a Wi-Fi network to suites at FedEx Field was scrapped at the behest of the federal government due to national security concerns.
The Redskins agreed to a partnership with Huawei Technologies Company, a Chinese firm and the world’s biggest maker of telecommunications equipment, in 2014 to beam Wi-Fi through suites at Redskins' home games in exchange for in-stadium and on-air advertising during broadcasts, The Wall Street Journal reported this week.
However, the agreement was quietly nixed by the franchise after a government adviser read about the partnership and triggered an unofficial federal complaint, per the WSJ.
The government was concerned about lawmakers and senior officials across several agencies who may use the suites and the Wi-Fi at Redskins games.
A 2012 report from the U.S. House Intelligence Committee concluded the Chinese government could use the company's hardware to spy and pressured U.S. businesses to avoid using Hawei made equipment. Huawei long denied it posed any threat.
The WSJ reported this exchange between the team and the Chinese company at which both sides admitted to some baggage around their names:
"During negotiations at Redskins headquarters, Huawei representatives were upfront about the national-security baggage that came along with its name, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
“Do you know who we are?” one Huawei representative asked, according to the person.
The person said a representative of the Redskins, which had long weathered criticism for sticking with a name and logo many consider racist, responded: “Do you know who we are?”
A Redskins spokesman said no one at the franchise recalls such a conversation."
The team did not end up using any of Huawei's equipment and chose two new Wi-Fi partners, Cisco Systems and Verizon.
(Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal.)
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