Latest news with #DanSnyder
Fox News
7 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
DC official weighs in on Trump's push to have Commanders change nickname back to Redskins
President Donald Trump threw a curveball into the NFL world over the weekend when he threatened to put the Washington Commanders' RFK Stadium site in jeopardy if they didn't change its name back to the Redskins. Phil Mendelson, the Washington, D.C., Council chairman, suggested to 106.7 The Fan in D.C. on the "Grant & Danny" show he would have "no problem" with a potential name change. "He suggested the past DC opposition of the team moving back into the city while named Redskins had more to do with Dan Snyder than the name," radio host Grant Paulsen wrote about Mendelson. "Suggested he would have no problem with DC welcoming the team back with the name Redskins now." It appeared to be the latest nod of support for the move since Trump fired off two Truth Social posts over the weekend about the nickname. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, who played for the Redskins, backed the move on Sunday. "The Washington 'Whatever's' should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this," Trump wrote first. "Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past. "Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago. We are a Country of passion and common sense. OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!" Then, he threatened to put the Commanders' deal to take over the old RFK Stadium site in jeopardy if they didn't revert to the name. "My statement on the Washington Redskins has totally blown up, but only in a very positive way," Trump wrote in a second Truth Social post. "I may put a restriction on them that if they don't change the name back to the original 'Washington Redskins,' and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, 'Washington Commanders,' I won't make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington. The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be more exciting for everyone." Daniel Snyder changed Washington's team name from the Washington Redskins to the Washington Football Team before the start of the 2020 season amid a summer of racial tensions. The team eventually became the Washington Commanders, and Snyder sold the team to Josh Harris. Harris said on Fox News Channel's "Special Report" in April that the team would not bring back the Redskins name even with plans to build a new stadium in Washington, D.C. "The Commanders' name actually has taken on an amazing kind of element in our building," Harris responded to Bret Baier's question about the Redskins name coming back as part of this new stadium deal. "So, the people that certain types of players that are tough, that love football, are delegated Commanders and Jayden [Daniels], for example, is a Commander, and they're ranked. "And, you know, the business staff has gotten into it, and obviously, we're in a military city here. There's more military personnel than anywhere else, so we're kind of moving forward with the Commanders name, excited about that, and not looking back."
The Guardian
22-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Trump wants to force the Commanders to revert to a racist name. It's unlikely he can
Haven't the fans of the Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians suffered enough? For decades, each team had to endure the twin indignities of on-field futility and off-field scorn. Until last year, when they enjoyed a resurgence under rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, the Washington NFL team had won exactly only one playoff game in the 21st century. Cleveland's baseball team have been competitive this century, but they once went 41 years between playoff appearances (from 1954 to 1995) and came out on the losing end in the 'whose drought will end?' World Series of 2016, in which the Chicago Cubs won the championship for the first time in 108 years at the expense of Cleveland, whose epoch without a World Series win now stands at 77 years. Off the field, both teams faced backlash over their names. Cleveland were known as the Indians until 2022, when a name change to 'Guardians' went into effect. Washington had a more disturbing name referring to Native Americans until they became the 'Washington Football Team' in 2020 and landed on 'Commanders' from 2022 onwards. The Commanders took another step forward in 2023, when a consortium led by Josh Harris bought the team from Dan Snyder, one of the most reviled team owners in NFL history. Coincidentally – or perhaps not given Snyder's failings – the Commanders reached the conference championship last season for the first time since 1991. But Donald Trump, whose quest to make the intellectual and public-service classes miserable is a cornerstone of his presidency, has decided that these two fanbases need more suffering. On Sunday he insisted on social media that the teams should reclaim the names they dropped after decades of pressure. His reasoning, as far as it could be discerned from his typically stream-of-consciousness post, was that changing the names back would be respectful to the many Native Americans who found them offensive in the first place. 'Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them,' Trump wrote. The first thing to say is that Trump often decides to fire off a broadside at sports, when he is looking to distract from other problems, rile up his base or target groups he has contempt for. See, for example, his attacks on the US women's national team, Black NFL players who knelt for the national anthem or transgender athletes. The second thing to say is that Trump is unlikely to get anywhere with his demands. The Guardians immediately squashed any notion of reverting to 'Indians,' and Trump has no leverage to force them to do his bidding. The Commanders' situation is a bit more complicated, but Trump is unlikely to prevail there, either. Trump has implied that he will force the Commanders to revert to their old racist name if they want to be allowed to move back to the District of Columbia from their current home in suburban Maryland. The problem is that Joe Biden, in his last weeks as US president, signed a bill transferring the site in question from the federal government to the DC city government. Barring any creative legal maneuvers, the most Trump could do would be to attack the municipal government on other fronts as an indirect way of putting pressure on the Commanders. The team's potential new home in DC is occupied by the decaying ruins of RFK Stadium, where the Team Now Known As the Commanders played from 1961 to 1996. The Washington Nationals also played there from 2005 to 2007, when Nationals Park was completed. Other than that, the stadium was the home of Major League Soccer's DC United and other soccer events until 2017, when DC United moved to their new home at Audi Field. Even before United moved out, the stadium was renowned for its decrepit state, though raccoons occasionally found it hospitable. RFK Stadium, though, had many things going for it. It was named for Robert F Kennedy, a distinguished attorney general who may well have been elected president in 1968 had he not been assassinated while campaigning. The stadium had history. It was also an easy walk from a Metro station. The Commanders' current home, now known as Northwest Stadium, has none of those things. It is a stadium devoid of charm, notable wins by the home team, and good transportation options – even by the standards of a city with brutalist architecture, sporadically successful sports teams, and traffic obstacles. Shortly before his death, then-owner Jack Kent Cooke convinced the US Postal Service to accept that the stadium's zip code would be known under the placename 'Raljon,' a combination of his sons' names (Ralph and John), prompting Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser to quip that everyone was lucky that his kids weren't named Peter and Ennis. At one time, the Washington NFL team had a long waitlist for season tickets. While the number of people on that waitlist at any given time is heavily disputed, it's certainly true that the typical fan could not simply buy season tickets without spending a few years waiting for the opportunity. By the end of Snyder's reign, even with Northwest Stadium's capacity reduced from 91,000 to about 62,000, the waitlist no longer existed. So a return to the old RFK site would be very attractive to the Commanders and their fans. But they have other options as well in the suburbs and exurbs, and even without presidential opposition, some local politicians have raised objections to the city's proposed $1bn investment in a new stadium. And that issue leads back to the federal government – which has the power to force DC to slash its budget, even if local tax revenues are sufficient to cover it – and occasionally threatens to do so. So Trump and his allies in Congress could, in theory, cut the DC budget out of spite if the Commanders refuse to change their name. But name changes and stadium development take a long time, and the clock on Trump's tenure in office is ticking. By any other name, Washington's football team had been in the DC metro area for close to 80 years before Trump's arrival, and it will be around long after he has packed up for Mar-a-Lago or another destination for good.
The Guardian
21-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Trump wants to force the Commanders to revert to a racist name. It's unlikely he can
Haven't the fans of the Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians suffered enough? For decades, each team had to endure the twin indignities of on-field futility and off-field scorn. Until last year, when they enjoyed a resurgence under rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, the Washington NFL team had won exactly only one playoff game in the 21st century. Cleveland's baseball team have been competitive this century, but they once went 41 years between playoff appearances (from 1954 to 1995) and came out on the losing end in the 'whose drought will end?' World Series of 2016, in which the Chicago Cubs won the championship for the first time in 108 years at the expense of Cleveland, whose epoch without a World Series win now stands at 77 years. Off the field, both teams faced backlash over their names. Cleveland were known as the Indians until 2022, when a name change to 'Guardians' went into effect. Washington had a more disturbing name referring to Native Americans until they became the 'Washington Football Team' in 2020 and landed on 'Commanders' from 2022 onwards. The Commanders took another step forward in 2023, when a consortium led by Josh Harris bought the team from Dan Snyder, one of the most reviled team owners in NFL history. Coincidentally – or perhaps not given Snyder's failings – the Commanders reached the conference championship last season for the first time since 1991. But Donald Trump, whose quest to make the intellectual and public-service classes miserable is a cornerstone of his presidency, has decided that these two fanbases need more suffering. On Sunday he insisted on social media that the teams should reclaim the names they dropped after decades of pressure. His reasoning, as far as it could be discerned from his typically stream-of-consciousness post, was that changing the names back would be respectful to the many Native Americans who found them offensive in the first place. 'Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them,' Trump wrote. The first thing to say is that Trump often decides to fire off a broadside at sports, when he is looking to distract from other problems, rile up his base or target groups he has contempt for. See, for example, his attacks on the US women's national team, Black NFL players who knelt for the national anthem or transgender athletes. The second thing to say is that Trump is unlikely to get anywhere with his demands. The Guardians immediately squashed any notion of reverting to 'Indians,' and Trump has no leverage to force them to do his bidding. The Commanders' situation is a bit more complicated, but Trump is unlikely to prevail there, either. Trump has implied that he will force the Commanders to revert to their old racist name if they want to be allowed to move back to the District of Columbia from their current home in suburban Maryland. The problem is that Joe Biden, in his last weeks as US president, signed a bill transferring the site in question from the federal government to the DC city government. Barring any creative legal maneuvers, the most Trump could do would be to attack the municipal government on other fronts as an indirect way of putting pressure on the Commanders. The team's potential new home in DC is occupied by the decaying ruins of RFK Stadium, where the Team Now Known As the Commanders played from 1961 to 1996. The Washington Nationals also played there from 2005 to 2007, when Nationals Park was completed. Other than that, the stadium was the home of Major League Soccer's DC United and other soccer events until 2017, when DC United moved to their new home at Audi Field. Even before United moved out, the stadium was renowned for its decrepit state, though raccoons occasionally found it hospitable. RFK Stadium, though, had many things going for it. It was named for Robert F Kennedy, a distinguished attorney general who may well have been elected president in 1968 had he not been assassinated while campaigning. The stadium had history. It was also an easy walk from a Metro station. The Commanders' current home, now known as Northwest Stadium, has none of those things. It is a stadium devoid of charm, notable wins by the home team, and good transportation options – even by the standards of a city with brutalist architecture, sporadically successful sports teams, and traffic obstacles. Shortly before his death, then-owner Jack Kent Cooke convinced the US Postal Service to accept that the stadium's zip code would be known under the placename 'Raljon,' a combination of his sons' names (Ralph and John), prompting Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser to quip that everyone was lucky that his kids weren't named Peter and Ennis. At one time, the Washington NFL team had a long waitlist for season tickets. While the number of people on that waitlist at any given time is heavily disputed, it's certainly true that the typical fan could not simply buy season tickets without spending a few years waiting for the opportunity. By the end of Snyder's reign, even with Northwest Stadium's capacity reduced from 91,000 to about 62,000, the waitlist no longer existed. So a return to the old RFK site would be very attractive to the Commanders and their fans. But they have other options as well in the suburbs and exurbs, and even without presidential opposition, some local politicians have raised objections to the city's proposed $1bn investment in a new stadium. And that issue leads back to the federal government – which has the power to force DC to slash its budget, even if local tax revenues are sufficient to cover it – and occasionally threatens to do so. So Trump and his allies in Congress could, in theory, cut the DC budget out of spite if the Commanders refuse to change their name. But name changes and stadium development take a long time, and the clock on Trump's tenure in office is ticking. By any other name, Washington's football team had been in the DC metro area for close to 80 years before Trump's arrival, and it will be around long after he has packed up for Mar-a-Lago or another destination for good.
Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Bring back the Redskins! Donald Trump claims Washington's NFL team should NEVER have scrapped 'offensive' former name
Donald Trump wants to bring back the Washington Redskins, the 'offensive' team name that was scrapped by the American capital city's NFL franchise in 2020. Trump was in the White House when the Redskins name was originally changed, on the back's of the George Floyd protests during the final summer of his first term in the Oval Office. Former owner Dan Snyder was forced to make the change, originally to the Washington Football Team for two seasons, when sponsors like Nike and Amazon threatened to boycott the team without a switch. In 2022, the team was re-branded as the Washington Commanders, with the fan base unhappy with the final result of the new moniker for years. Now, Trump, who has a checkered history with the NFL, has weighed in on the gridiron franchise's new name, with it playing home games less than 15 miles from the White House. 'Well, you want me to make a controversial statement? I would,' Trump said when asked if the Commanders should change their name back to the Redskins. 'I wouldn't have changed the name.' Trump says the Washington Commanders NFL team should change their name back to the Redskins. — Clips (@disclosetvclips) July 6, 2025 'It doesn't have the same ring to me. Winning can make everything sound good. So if they win, all of the sudden, the Commanders sounds good. But I wouldn't have changed the name.' In 2016, the Washington Post found that only one in every 10 Native Americans were offended by the Redskins' moniker. In recent months, the team has attempted to combine the old and the new, including a logo of a Commanders-style W with a feather coming out from it, part of the iconic Redskins design. Trump's claim about winning is a decent shout, as no Commanders fan was unhappy to embrace the team's best season in 30 years in 2024. Washington made the NFC Championship Game with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels before falling to eventual Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles. Expectations are as high for the Washington football franchise heading into a season as they have been since George H.W. Bush was in the Oval Office, six Presidential administrations ago. Other teams in professional sports have stayed tied to their Native American-adjacent nicknames, including the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Braves. The Cleveland Guardians rose from being the Cleveland Indians, in a move that was much more popular out of the gate in Ohio than the two changes in Washington. Trump was asked back in April, as the franchise negotiated a stadium deal to play home games once again within the District of Columbia, if a name change would be tied with any contract. 'Now Washington, the Redskins, perhaps that's a little different, a little different,' he said. 'I think it's a superior name to what they have right now,' he also volunteered. He added that, 'we're about bringing common sense back to this country.' Following Snyder's sale of the franchise to Josh Harris, fans have lobbied the new owner to revert to the old name. Additionally, the Native American Guardians Association - an organization which vocally opposes the removal of Native American mascots - launched a petition to bring the name back. After Trump was re-elected, many fans hoped that he could somehow force the team or the NFL to bring the 'Redskins' name back. However, as both the NFL and the Commanders are private businesses, Trump has no authority to force a name change.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Which historic uniforms will Commanders wear in 2025?
The Commanders broke news Wednesday afternoon that new alternate uniforms are coming soon. That's right, on July 9, the Commanders will unveil their new alternate uniforms. The alternate uniforms themselves have been a controversial topic for the fan base, and rightly so. After all, the franchise colors are historically burgundy and gold, and yet, in 2022, Dan Snyder and Jason Wright determined that not only would the team's new name be "Commanders," but there would also be no longer be any historic throwback uniforms. Advertisement Wright actually broadcast that the fan base had expressed "Commanders" as one of their preferred choices on February 2 on the "Today Show," when he stated that the new name "broadly resonated with our fans." It did? Did they ever provide any actual proof of this? The former owner and former team president had determined that there would be no historic throwback uniforms. Instead, as a means of moving forward and attempting to dismiss the past, the "throwbacks" gave way to "alternates." No longer would there be burgundy and gold throwback uniforms from the days of Sammy Baugh or Sonny Jurgensen. No, the franchise was progressive, moving forward. They would wear black and gold uniforms instead. It was a new era, a new name, a new "alternate uniform." Advertisement The Josh Harris ownership group will reveal next Wednesday that they are going back to historic throwbacks, featuring actual burgundy and gold uniforms, you know, the team's original colors. Or are they? The actual release did not describe the uniforms as "throwbacks," but rather as "alternates." Which helmet will they use? Unfortunately, the Commanders' release on X (formerly Twitter) intentionally displays a "W" on the helmet. Is this their way of not getting our hopes up, so that we won't be too upset when the helmet is actually not a throwback? In a sense, perhaps the "W" in the current logo speaks to the uniforms being alternates rather than throwbacks? Advertisement On the other hand, there are NFL teams that use an entire throwback uniform, including the helmet. So, why not go ahead and embrace the past prior to the Dan Snyder years? If only a few games each season, enjoy a historic look, and have some fun with it. Whatever uniforms the Harris group chooses, they will at least include the team colors and franchise history. Most importantly, the team is winning again. So perhaps the "W" will cause fans to think more of Washington and winning. Here are some options that would be fun, dating back to helmets, which I recall from my first Redskins memories in the 1969 season. Will next week's reveal resemble any of these uniform combinations shown above? It sure sounds like it will. The Commanders have multiple options with the "throwback" or "alternate" helmet. This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: There are four uniforms combinations the Commanders could choose
