John McCain said Friday that if he were owner of the Washington Redskins, he would consider changing the team name.
He was initially asked on The Dan Patrick Show whether he would compare the racist remarks of Clippers owner Donald Sterling with Redskins owner Dan Snyder’s refusal to change the NFL team name.
McCain said, “I’m not sure I’d connect the two. I do believe that if I were him, I would sit down with Native American leaders. I’m not the owner and he has rights of an owner, but, frankly, I would probably change the name.”
McCain went on to say, “I’d sit down with Snyder. And tell him to — I’d say, ‘Look, have a dialogue and then come back to me. And if the Native Americans are not satisfied with that dialogue, then you ought to consider changing it.'”
He acknowledged that he didn’t know whether Snyder could be forced to do so by the NFL as an owner, the way that Sterling will likely be forced to sell the Clippers by the NBA Board of Governors.
Snyder has claimed to have talked with many Native American leaders and tribes throughout the country and used what he learned to decide to keep the name. In lieu of the name change, he founded the “Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation,” which is a charity he promises will donate money to projects needed on reservations.
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