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Washington Football Team President Says ‘Pretty Good Chance’ Name Remains Next Season

Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

Katie Jerkovich Entertainment Reporter
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Washington Football Team president, Jason Wright, said it is a “pretty good chance” that the current name of the team will remain next season.

“There’s a pretty good chance we will be the Washington Football Team next season,” Wright told Washington TV station WJLA. The comments were noted by ESPN in a piece published Wednesday. (RELATED: The Washington Redskins Will Officially Retire The Team Name)

 

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“I think next year is fast because of how the brand has to come together through uniforms, through approval processes through the league,” he added. “We could get there quicker, it’s actually pretty hard to get there that quickly because of all the steps that need to happen.”  (RELATED: NFL Hall Of Fame Coach Tony Dungy Says He Won’t Say Redskins Name On-Air)

The comments came after the team announced earlier this year that it was dropping the name Redskins, a name they had used for 87 years from their club, and would be called the Washington Football Team for the 2020 season.

In 2013, owner of the team, Dan Snyder, previously shared that he would never change the team’s name following pressure from various groups to do so, per USA Today.

“As a lifelong Redskins fan, and I think that the Redskins fans understand the great tradition and what it’s all about and what it means, so we feel pretty fortunate to be just working on next season,” Snyder shared.

“We’ll never change the name,” he added. “It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”

As the piece noted:

The controversy surrounding the name predated Snyder’s purchase of the team in May 1999. When Washington played in Super Bowl XXVI following the 1991 season, there were 2,000 protesters outside the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Jack Kent Cooke, the team owner at the time, said of any possible change: “There is not a single, solitary jot, tittle, whit chance in the world. I like the name, and it’s not a derogatory name.”

As previously reported, the announcement from the organization about the name change came in light of “recent events around our country,” following George Floyd’s death.