Commanders ownership partner says old Redskins name won’t return
A few months ago, Magic Johnson said that the name of the Washington Commanders team he co-owns would come up at some point.
This happened on Wednesday, and fans of the old name will not be pleased with the first public comments from a member of this ownership group on the matter.
Mitchell Rales, the top partner in a group led by Josh Harris that included Johnson that bought the Commanders for a record $6.05 billion, told about 700 people at a dinner in Washington that the Owners may be thinking about finding a new name for the team somewhere down the road.
But it won’t be the Redskins.
“The ship has sailed,” Rales said. “We will not reappraise the past. We are about the future. For us, it’s about shaping the future and not about a divisive culture in which we engage.”
More than 130,000 people have signed A petition They are calling on the Commanders’ new owners to change the team’s name to the name used from 1933 to 2019 – a name that was found offensive by some Native Americans.
For many years, then-owner Daniel Snyder defiantly stood behind a name under which the team won three Super Bowl titles and two NFL championships before the merger. But in July 2020 – at a time when race relations in the US were under scrutiny following the death of George Floyd – the organization announced it was dropping its controversial nickname. After two seasons as an all-Washington Football team, the franchise introduced the Commanders name in February 2022.
As the petition shows, the new name is not popular with everyone. Johnson may have inadvertently raised some hopes during a “Today” show interview in July when he said, “The name of the team will be announced at some point, but right now we have enough to do and that will keep us busy.”
But team president Jason Wright said in a radio interview last week about a possible return to the old name: “It’s not being considered. Period.”
Rales said Wednesday that any consideration of changing the team name and other major organizational decisions will be put on hold until at least after the 2023 season, which begins for the Commanders on Sunday at home against the Arizona Cardinals.
“We’ll look at everything at the end of the year and think about a lot of different things, do a lot of testing and see what people think,” Rales said. “And we will learn. The beauty is that we have the time to look at all of these things intelligently and make fan-based decisions.”
Johnson also made his first practice appearance as a team owner on Wednesday, and the players were eager to soak up the knowledge that came with it Winning five NBA championships with the Lakers.
“You could tell they were really into it,” Commanders coach Ron Rivera said. “It’s funny. It’s a bit like being a parent. You can tell your child anything you want, but until someone like Magic says it, it means something.”
