The time is finally here. After going over 18 months without a team nickname, the Washington Football Team has established Feb. 2 as the franchise’s date to unveil its new name.
Washington’s official Twitter account released the following video Tuesday morning, featuring legendary coach Joe Gibbs and former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Doug Williams. Also featured in the video is general manager Martin Mayhew.
The wait is almost over
Mark your calendars: 2.2.22 pic.twitter.com/6Ofhfya5sA
— Washington Football Team (@WashingtonNFL) January 4, 2022
Williams and Mayhew both played in Washington. Williams worked in the front office for several years and is now a senior adviser for the franchise.
While we can surmise what we think the new name will be, we know a pair of popular names are already eliminated.
Back in the summer, team president Jason Wright said “Warriors” would not be the new name. In his “President’s Brief” on Washington’s website, Wright said “Wolves” and “Redwolves” are also eliminated as possible names.
Wright gave the following reasoning:
Early on we understood Wolves — or some variation of it — was one of our fan favorites. As I’ve said all along, we take feedback from our fans seriously, and because of your interest in this name, we put Wolves on a list of options to explore fully. Once we began looking into Wolves, however, we became aware of a notable challenge: trademarks held by other teams would limit our ability to make the name our own. And without Wolves, variations like RedWolves wouldn’t have been viable either for these and other reasons.
That’s indeed interesting. You are eliminating team names because you are worried about potential legal ramifications? Washington has had 18 months to get this right. And, regardless of the choice, it’s not going to bring the fan base together but only continue to divide it.