FedEx, title sponsor of Washington Redskins' stadium, urges team to change nickname

FedEx, title sponsor of Washington Redskins' stadium, has requested the NFL franchise to drop 'Redskins' from their name. FedEx acquired the naming rights for the Redskins' stadium in Prince George’s County, Maryland in 1999 for a reported $205 million. The deal runs through the 2025 season. In addition to owning the rights to the Redskins' stadium, the shipping giants' founder and CEO Frederik Smith is a minority owner of the team. 

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FedEx Redskins name change request as pressure mounts on the NFL team

The Washington Redskins have been criticised repeatedly in the past for using a name deemed racist towards the Native Americans. The franchise, which originated in Boston as the Braves in 1932, has carried the nickname 'Redskins' since 1933. They moved to Washington in 1937. While criticism for the nickname has been at large for several years now, pressure began mounting on the franchise to drop the nickname in the wake of the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement. Several political leaders in Washington have been demanding a name change for the NFL's legacy franchise.

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FedEx were forced into action after the shipping giants reportedly received a letter signed by various investors and shareholders to terminate its business relationship with the Redskins unless they change the team name. "We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name,” a FedEx spokesperson said in a statement Thursday.

As reported by AdWeek, three separate letters signed by 87 investment firms and shareholders worth $620 billion were sent to FedEx, Nike and PepsiCo to ask them to end their relationships with the team. Nike also followed suit with FedEx by removing all Washington Redskins from their website. PepsiCo is yet to respond to the letter. 

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Despite the criticism, the Redskins owner Dan Snyder has maintained that a new Washington Redskins name is not in the cards for the organisation. "We will never change the name of the team," he told USA Today in 2013. The Redskins spokesman refrained from commenting on the recent circumstances, reports AP.

Last week, the Redskins removed the name of the team’s original owner, George Preston Marshall, from the Ring of Fame inside the FedEx Field. George Preston Marshall, who was last to integrate African-American into a franchise among NFL owners, had his statue removed from the stadium after it was defaced during the George Floyd protest. The Redskins also announced that they would be renaming the lower bowl of the stadium for Bobby Mitchell, the franchise’s first African-American star player.

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(Image Credits: Washington Redskins Official Website)