Washington Commanders

Washington Commanders
Washington Commanders
Current season
	Established July 9, 1932; 92 years ago; First season: 1932; Play in FedExField; Landover, Maryland; Headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia
Washington Commanders logo	Washington Commanders wordmark
Logo	Wordmark
League/conference affiliations
	National Football League (1932–present) Eastern Division (1933–1949); American Conference (1950–1952); Eastern Conference (1953–1969) Capitol Division (1967–1969); ; National Football Conference (1970–present) NFC East (1970–present); ;
	Current uniform
Team colors	Burgundy, gold, black;
Fight song	"Hail to the Redskins" (1938–2019)
Personnel
Owner(s)	Josh Harris
President	Jason Wright
General manager	Adam Peters
Head coach	Dan Quinn
Team history
	Boston Braves (1932); Boston Redskins (1933–1936); Washington Redskins (1937–2019); Washington Football Team (2020–2021); Washington Commanders (2022–present);
Team nicknames
	The Burgundy and Gold; The 'Skins (as the Redskins); The Hogs (1980s offensive line);
Championships
	League championships (5); NFL championships (pre-1970 AFL–NFL merger) (2); 1937, 1942; Super Bowl championships (3); 1982 (XVII), 1987 (XXII), 1991 (XXVI);
	Conference championships (5) NFC: 1972, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1991;
	Division championships (15) NFL Eastern: 1936, 1937, 1940, 1942, 1943, 1945; NFC East: 1972, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1999, 2012, 2015, 2020;
Playoff appearances (25)
	NFL: 1936, 1937, 1940, 1942, 1943, 1945, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2012, 2015, 2020;
Home fields
	Braves Field (1932); Fenway Park (1933–1936); Griffith Stadium (1937–1960); Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium (1961–1996); FedExField (1997–present);

The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington, D.C. area. The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland. The team's head office and training area are at Redskin Park in Ashburn, Virginia. They are part of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL).

The team began in Boston in 1932. They were first named for the Boston Braves baseball team. They were soon renamed the "Redskins." They kept that nickname after moving to Washington in the late 1930s. Native Americans and others said this word was insulting to Native Americans. There were protests and legal challenges, but the team kept the name for many years.

On June 18, 2014, the United States Patent Office decided that they were going to cancel the Redskins trademarks and called the name "disparaging to Native Americans."^[2]

In June 2020, 87 of the team's sponsors wrote a letter asking the team to change its name. PepsiCo, Nike, and FedEx were three of these sponsors. Together those three companies pay more than US$600 million to show their products and services next to the team. That summer, the team announced that there would be a review of the name.^[3]^[4] On July 13, 2020, the team officially retired the "Redskins" name, although they did not choose a new team name at that time.^[5] The team played the 2020 and 2021 seasons as the Washington Football Team.^[6]

The team hired John Wright to find a new name. He spoke to fans, former players, and some Native Americans. Fans liked the name "Red Wolves," but too many other teams already legally owned names and pictures that were like "Red Wolves." On February 2, 2022, Wright went on the Today Show. He said the new name would be "Washington Commanders" and showed everyone the new team uniforms.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Some Native American leaders, for example Fawn Sharp of the National Congress of American Indians, said the team also should have apologized for using the name for so long and making so much money with it. Others said it was a step in the right direction.^[8]

References

↑ "Washington Football Team Team Facts". ProFootballHOF.com. NFL Enterprises. Archived from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
↑ "Trademark board rules against Washington Redskins name". NFL. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
↑ Around the NFL staff (July 3, 2020). "Washington Redskins to undergo thorough review of team's name". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
↑ Draper, Kevin (July 3, 2020). "Washington and the N.F.L. Might Change the Redskins Name. Why Now?". The New York Times. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
↑ Carpenter, Les; Maske, Mark (July 12, 2020). "Redskins to retire team name Monday; new name to be revealed later". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
↑ Shook, Nick (February 2, 2022). "Washington announces new team name: Washington Commanders". NFL.com. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
↑ Darren Thompson (February 2, 2022). "Indian Country Responds to the New Washington Commanders Name". Yahoo News. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
↑ ^8.0 ^8.1 John Keim (February 2, 2022). "Washington selects Commanders as new NFL team name after two-season process". ESPN News. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
↑ Jonathan Franklin; Bill Chappell (February 2, 2022). "The Washington Football Team's new name is the Washington Commanders". NPR. Retrieved February 3, 2022.

Other websites

Washington Commanders official web site
Sports E-Cyclopedia.com
ESPN's Redskin Page Archived 2009-04-10 at the Wayback Machine
History of the Washington Redskins
Team Names

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[1] "Washington Football Team Team Facts". ProFootballHOF.com. NFL Enterprises. Archived from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2020.

[2] "Trademark board rules against Washington Redskins name". NFL. Retrieved 2014-06-19.

[3] Around the NFL staff (July 3, 2020). "Washington Redskins to undergo thorough review of team's name". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises. Retrieved July 9, 2020.

[NYTimes.2020.07.03-4] Draper, Kevin (July 3, 2020). "Washington and the N.F.L. Might Change the Redskins Name. Why Now?". The New York Times. Retrieved July 9, 2020.

[5] Carpenter, Les; Maske, Mark (July 12, 2020). "Redskins to retire team name Monday; new name to be revealed later". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 13, 2020.

[6] Shook, Nick (February 2, 2022). "Washington announces new team name: Washington Commanders". NFL.com. Retrieved February 2, 2022.

[Thompson-7] Darren Thompson (February 2, 2022). "Indian Country Responds to the New Washington Commanders Name". Yahoo News. Retrieved February 3, 2022.

[Keim-8] 8.0 ^8.1 John Keim (February 2, 2022). "Washington selects Commanders as new NFL team name after two-season process". ESPN News. Retrieved February 3, 2022.

[NPR-9] Jonathan Franklin; Bill Chappell (February 2, 2022). "The Washington Football Team's new name is the Washington Commanders". NPR. Retrieved February 3, 2022.

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