The Washington Commanders are coming to the town.
The NFL crew formally introduced its new identify at the “These days” display Wednesday morning, finishing weeks of hypothesis at the rebranding of some of the soccer league’s maximum stricken franchises after many years of complaint over a racially insensitive moniker.
“As we kick-off our ninetieth season, it can be crucial for our group and lovers to pay tribute to our previous traditions, historical past, legacy and the greats that got here ahead of us,” co-owner and co-CEO Dan Snyder stated in a observation. “We proceed to honor and constitute the Burgundy & Gold whilst forging a pathway to a brand new generation in Washington. These days would possibly mark the primary day for the Washington Commanders, however we’re and at all times shall be Washington.”
The crew’s new emblem design of a capital “W” is claimed to had been impressed via army rank insignia. It options slanted strains bordering the letter. The crew stated this is also to “characterize ahead motion and growth.”
The crew’s crest resembles a round roundel, regularly used as a kind of insignia on army plane. It options the yr the crew was once based, in 1932, the “W” emblem, 3 stars, which constitute the celebs at the District of Columbia flag, and listing the years the crew received NFL championships and Tremendous Bowls.
The general variety ends an 18-month saga over the franchise’s id after the crew dumped its previous identify, the Redskins, in 2020 after a half-century of force from Local American citizens. The derogatory nickname had brought about advertisers to escape and the crew to undertake a placeholder identify, the Washington Soccer Group, because it looked for a brand new id.
Other names were teased on-line for weeks — Admirals, Generals, Presidents — and the crew stated it thought to be greater than 40,000 public submissions.
Rob Carr by way of Getty Photographs
Fanatics were speculating concerning the Commanders identify for weeks, making it some of the worst-kept secrets and techniques within the NFL. Eagle-eyed sleuths chased down domains, and a former participant gave the impression to leak the identify in an interview ahead of he walked again his remarks.
The crew itself appeared to blow the name of the game after a neighborhood information helicopter flew over FedEx Box in suburban Maryland on Tuesday night time and filmed an enormous banner with the Commanders identify via a window.
The crew’s president, Jason Wright, stated ultimate month that the franchise couldn’t wait “to hit the bottom working with our crew identify and id on a transparent trail.”
“Whilst we’ve at all times understood it will be a just about not possible process to make a choice a reputation that every one of our lovers would establish with as their first select, we’re very thinking about our ultimate variety, which aligns with our values, carries forth our wealthy historical past, represents the area and, most significantly, is encouraged and knowledgeable via you, our lovers,” Wright stated on the time.