The date was Feb. 2, 2022.  It was a gloomy Wednesday in the D.C. metro area, where everyone was going to try to get through school or work in the middle of the week.  However, this seemingly ordinary day was incredibly significant for locals, as that morning, the new name of the Washington Football Team was unveiled:  the Washington Commanders.   

This reveal date was announced on Jan. 4, 2022, when Washington Football Team president Jason Wright wrote an open letter to the fans as to why we couldn’t have the name we wanted — the name we felt preserved the history and legacy of our football team, the name we felt created excitement and buzz for the fans, and the name we had come to a consensus on. 

On Jul. 13, 2020, Washington removed the name “Redskins.” This came after years of protests by activist groups and Washington owner Dan Snyder telling USA Today Sports on May 9, 2013: “We’ll never change the name, it’s that simple.  NEVER— you can use caps.”  Many traditionalist fans, myself included, were disappointed with the change at first.  However, fans eventually came to understand that our historic name, which had been in use for 87 years, carried a racial undertone which offended many. 

As the Washington Redskins became the Washington Football Team for the next two seasons, the team encouraged its fans to share potential names.  There were many different ideas thrown around early on — Presidents, Brigade, Armada, and Senators — none of them really stuck. Eventually, a certain name was suggested that captured the hearts of every single Washington fan, a name that represented the identity of this franchise and its fans, and a name that is an homage to the preceding name it would’ve replaced:  Redwolves.  

When Washington fans learned of this name, we got exhilarated at the mere thought of a Fedex Field filled with fans howling like actual wolves. Technology coordinator Glenn Colucci supported the name. “I liked Redwolves and Redtails,” Colucci said when asked about his first choice name for the team.  #Redwolves started trending on social media, and graphic designers on the internet started making concept Redwolves logos and uniforms which only further contributed to our excitement.  It contributed so much that then Washington quarterback, Dwayne Haskins, approved of a Redwolves edit of him posted on Instagram.   Most importantly, on April 5, 2021, Washington offered its fans the opportunity to submit potential names, uniforms, and logos on its website and fans made their voices known.  

The majority of fans agreed that the new team name should be Redwolves. In fact, according to a poll conducted by NBC Sports Washington, an overwhelming majority, or 72% of respondents preferred Redwolves over names such as Redtails, Warriors, and Redhawks.  However, instead of listening to us and doing whatever it took in order to make the fans happy, the team gave fans a broad and pathetic explanation as to why using the name Redwolves wasn’t possible. “Early on we understood Wolves — or some variation of it — was one of our fan favorites,” Wright said in his letter.  “As I’ve said all along, we take feedback from our fans seriously, and because of your interest in this name, we put Wolves on a list of options to explore fully.  Once we began looking into Wolves…trademarks held by other teams would limit our ability to make the name our own. And without Wolves, variations like RedWolves wouldn’t have been viable either, for these and other reasons.”  

Wright claimed that the team values the opinion of the fans.  However, if that was truly the case, Wright and the franchise would’ve done whatever it might have taken to overcome the legal hurdles in order to give the fans what they wanted instead of citing “trademark issues” as an excuse to why we couldn’t have the name Redwolves.

 According to NBC Sports Washington, Wright and the team were likely referring to the trademark held by Arkansas State University, who already go by the Redwolves moniker. I wouldn’t have minded if they kept the placeholder name “Washington Football Team” for a couple more seasons in order to give the team the time needed to obtain the trademark for Redwolves.  Instead, Wright and the team used it as an excuse; they didn’t even go in depth about the trademark issue or if the team even attempted to resolve it. 

Washington treated fans’ input as an afterthought, which is a slap in the face to every Washington fan who continues to spend their money on merchandise, game tickets, and TV subscriptions in order to support the team. “My thinking with this whole name change is that I will not be buying any new gear,” Colucci said.  “I have a lot of gear that says ‘Redskins,’ and I still plan on wearing that. Once they win and if they ever start really winning again — it’s been quite a while since we’ve looked like an actual football team –I might consider buying some gear.”

After the name change announcement, many fans expressed their vehement hate for it on the internet,  not because Commanders is a bad name by any means, but because the entire fanbase felt ignored by the team. In his letter, Wright claimed that the new name was “inspired and informed by the fans.”  However, that couldn’t be further from the case.  Senior Tai Trieu noted that the new name has big shoes to fill, as “it will never replace the prestige and history of the old name,”  Trieu said.  A business’s main goal is to satisfy its consumer in order to make money, and the newly named Washington Commanders did a horrendous job in doing so.

Fans have been used to the mediocre professionalism that Washington has displayed since 1999, when Snyder bought the team.  The team has been marred in scandals that range from sexual harrassment to the mistreatment of Sean Taylor’s jersey retirement ceremony.  In addition to that, Snyder, Wright, and the team as a whole have failed to acknowledge the condition of FedEx Field, the team’s home since 1997.  This past season alone in 2021, there have been multiple sewage leaks and the faulty railing that injured multiple fans and media personnel and nearly injured Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. The lack of professionalism, combined with the team’s poor performance and stadium issues, has led to lower attendance in recent years, so much so that Washington stripped seats from FedEx Field in order to fill a higher percentage of seats starting in 2015.   

If the newly-named Commanders want to become relevant among fans in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and football fans around the country, they should prioritize listening to their fans.  As a lifelong fan of Washington’s football team, I will continue to watch the games on TV and wear my old gear, but I will not spend money on tickets and new gear until the Commanders listen to the commands of their fans.