As the Washington NFL franchise continues the process of formally rebranding and choosing a new name, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the franchise will go by the name Washington Football Team for the foreseeable future.
Schefter reported this will not be the official new name of the team that owner Dan Snyder committed to choosing this month, but an intermediate step until the franchise can undergo a full name selection process and rebrand.
Effective immediately, Washington will call itself the “Washington Football Team”, pending adoption of a new name, sources tell ESPN.
This is not a final renaming and rebranding for team; this is the name it wants to use until pending adoption of a new name in the future. pic.twitter.com/sBs0Uo0ICm
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 23, 2020
Many had noted that choosing a new name for a sports franchise often takes years, and that Washington would have only a handful of weeks until the NFL season began to replace signage, jerseys, and merchandise. This is a step toward a rebrand that will allow Washington to maintain its color scheme and instead just go about removing its logo from FedEx Field and all other official products and branded items.
Schefter confirmed as much, posting photos of the new jerseys and noting that the old logo will be replaced with players’ numbers in gold.
Washington will not have any change to its color scheme. It will still use burgundy and gold. The Redskins logo on the helmet will be replaced by the player’s number in gold. The Washington Football Team will debut its home uniforms in week 1 against the Eagles. pic.twitter.com/8DpC6b0Tyj
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 23, 2020
The change was precipitated when FedEx, Nike and other corporate sponsors threatened to cut ties with Washington earlier this summer unless the name was changed. Among the new names reportedly in contention are the Warriors and the Sentinels. Earlier this week, fans discovered that the organization may have web trademarks for a website with the Sentinels name, with official trademarking potentially the last roadblock to an official name change.