Washington Football Team’s placeholder name could remain into next season, new president says
The team announced in July that it was retiring its old name, the Redskins, and would use the Washington Football Team as a temporary moniker until it settled on a permanent replacement. No timetable was provided, but Terry Bateman, the franchise’s former executive vice president and chief marketing officer, told The Washington Post at the time that such a rebranding is “a 12- to 18-month process if you want to do it right.”
“I don’t know if you know anything about trademark law and copyright stuff and all the hoops you got to jump through to pull something like that off in the time frame,” said Bateman, who moved into a consulting role with the team after Wright was hired. “That’s one part of it. The other part is we didn’t want to rush it. We wanted to go slow. We wanted to do this right. Whatever we come up with is going to be the name for the next 80, 90, 100 years, I hope.”
Over the past three months, the team has removed old signage from its facilities, undergone a uniform makeover and raised a new flag with its temporary logo and name outside its training center in Ashburn, Va.
Additional changes could come at the team’s stadium in Landover, Md.
If the team lets fans into games this year, it could have up to 3,250 people at FedEx Field. A team spokeswoman said it is still deciding if and when it will go that route.
Wright said the team has a plan to bring back fans and suggested during the ABC interview that the team’s Nov. 8 game against the New York Giants could be a possibility.
Washington announced in August that it would prohibit fans at FedEx Field for at least the start of the season because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, but it left open the possibility of allowing some if circumstances improved. Last week, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) signed an order that allows for a maximum 10 percent capacity at outdoor sporting venues in the state.
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