Getty The logo for the Washington Commanders.
If Washington Commanders co-owner Marjorie Harris’ goal was to insert some uncertainty into whether the team will keep the current franchise name its had since 2022, then mission accomplished.
Harris told The Athletic’s Ben Standig that the Commanders will keep their name but stayed on the fence about the name moving forward.
“Quite frankly, I had a whole day out in the community, and I kept referring to the team as the Commanders,” Harris told The Athletic. “And you know what? Sounds pretty good to me. So, for now, it’s the Commanders.
“Everybody has an opinion about the name. Some good, some bad, some in the middle. And I think that we have a lot of work to do and so that name issue is going to be on the side for now until we can get things going.”
Harris and her husband, Josh Harris, are co-owners of the Commanders and led a group that purchased the franchise for an estimated $6 billion in 2023 — legendary basketball player Magic Johnson is part of the group as well.
The Commanders are the fifth name for the franchise dating back almost 100 years.
The franchise played as the Boston Braves in 1932 then as the Boston Redskins from 1933 to 1936 then as the Washington Redskins from 1937 to 2019 — a name that brought such scrutiny the team finally became the Washington Football team for two seasons before becoming the Commanders in 2022.
In a recent Washington Post poll, 54 percent of sports fans in the D.C. area said they didn’t like the Commanders as the name for the team.
Commanders Attempting Move Back to D.C.
Currently, the team is attempting to move back to Washington D.C. and create a new RFK Memorial Stadium.
According to a story from The Washington Post’s Sam Fortier on May 13, Senator Steve Daines (R-Montana) is actively standing in the way of any movement toward building a new stadium in D.C. and moving away from the team’s current site in Landover, Maryland, where the team has been since 1997.
“Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) intends to block legislation that would give the District greater control over the RFK Stadium site until the Washington Commanders honor a Native American family that helped design the team’s former logo,” Fortier wrote. “At a (May 15) hearing in the Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee on National Parks, Daines will call for Commanders officials to meet with the family of Walter ‘Blackie’ Wetzel and members of the Blackfeet Tribe. ”
Wetzel’s logo, which was featured on the team’s helmets, depicted the profile of an Indian warrior.
The D.C. RFK Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act would allow the Commanders to build a new stadium on federally-owned land on the Anacostia River in D.C. The bill passed through the House in February and now needs to pass through the Senate — which Daines is standing directly in the way of.
Winning Could Tamper Down Name Controversy
One reason the name of Washington’s franchise has been such a hot topic is that the franchise has been one of the NFL’s worst for most of the last decade.
After winning three Super Bowls from 1982 to 1991, the Commanders haven’t won a playoff game since 2005 and haven’t had a winning season since going 8-7-1 in 2016.
The Commanders seem on the brink of turning things around in 2024 thanks to a new head coach in Dan Quinn — their fourth head coach in the last decade — and a new franchise quarterback in 2024 No. 2 overall pick Jayden Daniels.
Daniels is an electric, dual-threat quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy at LSU in 2023 after throwing for 3,812 yards, 40 touchdowns and 4 interceptions while rushing for 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns.
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