Post-Redskins, Washington has long road toward new nickname

When University of rth Dakota moved on from being Fighting Sioux like Washington’s NFL team is doing from Redskins, new name could’ve been anything.

More than 1,600 suggestions were submitted, ranging from realistic to ridiculous, like “Abdominal Swman.”

Dan Snyder isn’t welcoming that long list of suggestions, though what he and organization do next will determine how team is perceived for decades.

“Here’s where I think fun begins and work begins,” said Brand Federation founding partner and CEO Kelly O’Keefe, who was on rth Dakota’s name change task force. “To just pop out with a new name is t right answer. right answer is to build a process that starts to allow se people to be heard in process of developing a new name.”

Snyder and coach Ron Rivera are already at work developing what team called “a new name and design approach that will enhance standing of our proud, tradition-rich franchise and inspire our sponsors, fans and community for next 100 years.”

After 87 years as Redskins, Red Tails, Red Clouds, Red Wolves and Hogs are among betting favorites for new name. organization is working quietly to try to roll out a fresh moniker and logo in time for 2020 season.

Sports business and marketing experts consider feedback from fans, endorsements from current players and alumni and on-field success as three crucial elements matter what new name winds up being.

“ mere fact that y’re changing name is going to elicit some backlash, and y need to be ready for that and be comfortable with it,” Virginia Tech professor Nneka Logan said.

“Beyond that, I think it’s important y and or organizations eng with your local community, eng with Native American community, eng with all of your stakeholders in process of name change and ensure that it’s something that auntically aligns with your corporation’s values.”

Rivera said his hope was to continuing horing and supporting Native Americans and military. If Warriors — name of Snyder’s proposed Arena Football League team from 2002 — is w out of consideration, Red Tails would fit bill as a d to Black fighter pilots of Tuskegee Airmen from World War II. Tuskegee Airmen Inc. said it “would be hored and pleased to work with organization” if that’s Washington’s new name.

Former Washington linebacker Will Compton voiced his support for Red Wolves by saying he liked that name so much he’d want to return for a day. Hogs would pay tribute to famed offensive line that bulldozed team to three Super Bowl titles.

O’Keefe had hoped organization would eng community in name selection because, like rth Dakota with Fighting Hawks, feeling a part of process builds acceptance of name. Perhaps just as importantly, it could prevent missing on a name like NBA’s Bullets did when changing to Wizards in mid-1990s.

“You don’t want to mess this up, so y really need to take it seriously,” Carnegie Mellon associate professor of marketing and strategy Tim Derdenger said. “If you come out with wrong name, wrong pitch to your fans and it gets squashed, it’s really hard to recover from that.”

One way to t stray far from tradition is to avoid kind of wholesale change that happened when Wizards replaced red, white and blue with teal, gold and black.

With all due respect to failed coach Jim Zorn’s mistake of calling Washington’s football colors “maroon and black,” burgundy and gold are a huge part of team history.

“I think in a lot of ways, reference to burgundy and gold is as big, if t bigger than name and im on helmet,” Georgetown adjunct professor of sports marketing and business Marty Conway said. “ pride and tradition of Sonny Jurgensen and ors wearing that burgundy and gold uniform on Sunday I think is a strong im in people’s minds.”

With Conway estimating it’ll cost league and team tens of millions of dollars to buy back merchandise, keeping colors same would help ease transition with less than two months to scheduled start of season.

When games are back, Washington might struggle matter what it’s called, but those results in coming years will determine how popular this move is.

“It’s going to take time to come back to heyday of Washington winning and having full stadiums and people really supporting m,” Derdenger said. “It’s going to take a long time for this new branded team to get to that point, but it’s certainly possible. And you kw what helps m get to that point quicker is if y win.”

Im credits: AP