The official one-year anniversary of the Commanders’ post-Dan Snyder era falls on Sunday.
Even though Josh Harris (pictured above, left) and the rest of his ownership group have made a lot of progress and goodwill since his historic $6.05 billion acquisition of Washington became official on July 21 (the day after NFL owners approved the deal), it has been challenging to move past the team’s identity and its stadium situation.
Locally and nationally, The Commanders—a moniker Snyder chose after the franchise’s previous contentious name was dropped—remain unpopular. Although the team’s reorganized management group is aware of the problems with the name, Front Office Sports was informed by many individuals with firsthand knowledge of the matter that no attempt is being made to abandon the moniker “Commanders” just yet.
A person close to the team told FOS, “A rebrand is not something the team is currently focused on.” “The focus is on the team on the field, the fan experience, and the future stadium.”
“There’s no guarantee that a name change will occur because what if the Commanders go 13–4?” another insider said. Will people continue to question the name’s quality?
In Harris’s first season as Commander, the team finished 4-13. However, since he had taken over the franchise just days before the start of training camp the previous year, he was unable to make many changes to the squad, including the roster. But after Washington failed to win a season for the seventh straight, a number of adjustments were made.
Since January, the Commanders have added head coach Dan Quinn (above, middle) and general manager Adam Peters (above, right); on Thursday, it was announced that Jason Wright would be taking on an advisory role; and the selection of LSU’s Jayden Daniels with the No. 2 pick was one of the team’s better player personnel decisions. These represent arguably the largest organizational transformations an NFL franchise has experienced since Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989.
“I think this season will be a honeymoon season because they took over the team so late and they did the right thing by blowing out [head coach] Ron Rivera and a lot of the old guard,” says Chris Russell, host of the sports-talk radio show The franchise 980 in the Washington, D.C., region. “They’ll have a lot of leeway and forgiveness from their fans. The issue is that even among the Commanders’ most devoted fans, there will likely be conflict if the team finishes 4–13 once more and you still don’t have a conclusive plan for a new stadium or a solution to the name dispute, which is never-ending and is killing the franchise.
When it comes to the likelihood of the Commanders going back to their previous, long-time home in Washington, D.C., the team name and stadium are linked. Legislation that would have granted The District a 99-year lease for the federally owned property where the former RFK Stadium is still being disassembled has essentially been stalled by Sen. Steve Daines (R., Mont.).
Daines expressed disapproval of the legislation that was passed by the House earlier this year, requesting that the Commanders grant Walter “Blackie” Wetzel, a Blackfeet Nation member who helped design the logo used from 1972 to 2020, some significant public recognition for his contributions. The late Walter Wetzel’s grandson, Ryan Wetzel, told FOS last week that arrangements had been made for the family to attend Washington’s home opener on September 15 and that efforts are underway to erect a plaque at Commanders Field in his memory.
However, according to several sources with firsthand knowledge of the situation, Daines is pressuring the Commanders to reinstate the previous logo, a move that is still greeted with opposition at the team and league levels.
The NFL has recently started to use old footage on social media that doesn’t cover up the old logo, something the league avoided since Snyder—who was under pressure from a then-co-owner and others—abandoned the old name and logo in July 2020. Washington has also brought back the team’s traditional gold pants. Regarding the new usage of historical team footage on social media, the NFL did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
D.C. might be practically off the table if Daines and possibly other senators (including the two senators from Maryland) aren’t happy with the RFK Stadium measure. Additionally, there is no certainty that a stadium would be built on the land because the lease permits other uses, such as parks and residential construction, even if the law passes the Senate and is approved by President Biden.
Leave a Reply