(New Poll) The Washington Commanders Brand 2.0: Beer Drinkers and Hail Raisers

[Bulldog]

The Snyder era uniforms with block style lettering and the stenciled out 'W' have to go as do the Steeler ripoff alternate uniforms.

Washington teams don't wear black. That's tradition for the Raiders and Steelers, here it just looks silly.

Nothing like chasing a trend

 

[Conn]

I think they are dropping little nuggets testing the waters on a logo change. Last week it was the W with two spears through it. This week it is the crest with two spears through it.

The SB Era Uniforms are obvious and they aren't being cagey with their intentions to make them the permanent unis. I do think they are playing with iterations of a ,logo tweak/change and seeing if anything really catches fire among fans.

I think you’re right and I think it’s a little lame/cowardly. Just make a plan and roll it out. Roll out the finished product and tell people to deal with it, don’t slyly focus group test portions of it at a time like it’s the frog being slowly boiled scenario for fans. Just announce an intention to reveal new branding around the Commanders name, advertise a date, and proudly reveal it. And as long as you don’t beef it as badly as doing Doug Williams on the Today Show going “here, damn”, it’ll be fine.

This slow drip probably makes them think they’re building hype or mystery, but because there’s been no roadmap for it since the spear photo shoot leaked in the late summer, it just makes it feel like they don’t have full confidence in their designs and their plans.

 

[Conn]

Like I’ve said before, I’m going to like it to spite them.

We’ve got a revolutionary on our hands, folks. I bet what would really stick in their craw would be if you spent a bunch of money to spite them! That’ll show em they can’t keep you down.

😉

 

[Commander PK]

We’ve got a revolutionary on our hands, folks. I bet what would really stick in their craw would be if you spent a bunch of money to spite them! That’ll show em they can’t keep you down.

😉

I have lol. 😏

 

[GhostofWoodson]

I remember during name change discussions some of us wanted Warriors with a greco-roman or classical look instead.

 

[JoeyG]

I remember during name change discussions some of us wanted Warriors with a greco-roman or classical look instead.

I saw this on the Hogs Haven website and thought it was pretty cool. It has the Roman theme with a nod to the old Redskins spear logo

 

[Commander PK]

I saw this on the Hogs Haven website and thought it was pretty cool. It has the Roman theme with a nod to the old Redskins spear logoView attachment 14108

I would be ecstatic if the new alt helmet looks like that one 🔥

 

[SkinsOrlando]

The name isnt going anywhere any time soon.

The new group has changed just about everything about the brand outside of the logo thats on the helmet, and the name. If the name is the deal breaker, and no changes will ever be good enough because the name is what it is... then i'm thinking nothing will ever be good enough.

The team is going to look as close to the Redskins as it has since this whole thing started originally.

I think you hit the nail on the head with your last statement. Similar to the Wizards. The jerseys and everything else is Bullets but that shitty name remains. I use this as an example, I'm not a big NBA guy but that name rebrand was as close to catastrophic as I think any other team has come to the nuclear disaster changing the Redskins to Commanders has been.

 

[Ashburn Dave]

If the spear is in play then we should be the Warriors.

If KC can keep the Chiefs, what's the problem with Warriors?

I can understand why Redskins could be offensive to some but Warriors should have been an option for us.

 

[Commander PK]

If the spear is in play then we should be the Warriors.

If KC can keep the Chiefs, what's the problem with Warriors?

I can understand why Redskins could be offensive to some but Warriors should have been an option for us.

Warriors can’t be an option because other entities own the trademarks. They would have to be willing to sell them or share them through a mutual use agreement. Even if the organization dumped money on them by the truckload and even if the NFL would approve that name for our team…there is no guarantee they would even want to share the name Warriors because once they do that with an NFL team they get relegated to 2nd.

And I would have rather had Warriors also.

 

[AngryChuckT]

If the spear is in play then we should be the Warriors.

If KC can keep the Chiefs, what's the problem with Warriors?

I can understand why Redskins could be offensive to some but Warriors should have been an option for us.

My take in 2026 as I have gone through all the stages of loss and finally accepted the theft of the most beautiful logo in sports history - and that we will never be allowed to overtly refer to our branding of almost a century ever again:

We were never going to be allowed to keep any NA imagery no matter how generic the name. The only way I could have seen us being able to maintain NA imagery is if we had a licensing agreement with a NA tribe a la FSU. However, that would have taken foresight and intelligence to see the way the political winds were blowing. Foresight and intelligence is not something the WOS was known for. Regardless, it was something that should have been done much earlier ands would certainly have been too late by 2020. No way minority stakeholders were gonna go for continued NA imagery regardless of name. They were all about optics in an ugly social/political environment.

We know the history of the logo and its design by WW and his purpose to honor NA, but facts don't matter in the social media age. Further, there is a not an insignificant portion of NAs that find that NA imagery is never ok, especially one whose former moniker was "Red" "Skins." I remember reading Pro-Football, Inc. v. Harjo in law school in the early 2000s. Redskins won on procedural grounds. I remember realizing at that point it wasn’t a matter of if, but when the TM would be canceled - likely killing the name. But I digress….

Ultimately, the Chiefs and Blackhawks seem to get a pass because they didn’t have the Worst Owner in Sports for 20 years or our franchise’s problematic social history starting with GPM. There is a reason there are so many Cowboys fans in DC that have never been to Texas. Doesn’t hurt that Chiefs have been hugely successful and a cash cow for the NFL for almost two decades while the Skins have been a joke. I think eventually the Chiefs and Blackhawks are forced to change, it just might not be in the lifetime of us Glory Year Fans.

 

[Ashburn Dave]

Warriors was a missed opportunity IMO.

 

[HTTR]

Warriors was a missed opportunity IMO.

you have to wonder how hard they really tried for it, if at all

 

[Commander PK]

you have to wonder how hard they really tried for it, if at all

The likely scenario? Not much at all.

Hypothetically, If Golden State didn’t want to play nice in the sandbox there wasn’t any point to push it further. There was no viable path forward at that point for Warriors no matter how much sense it made.

 

[Spearfeather]

Don't know if it's been mentioned here before, and I'm sure it was over on ES but, apparently Snyder applied for the " Washington Warriors " trademark ( for an Arena Football league that was forming at the time ) in August, 2000, and was well on his way to getting it until what's called the Statement of Use part of the process, which is basically the Trademark Office asking for proof of Washington Warriors merchandise being sold.
He kept asking for and was granted five extensions before abandoning the trademark in 2005, as the league never formed.

 

[DWinzit]

Don't know if it's been mentioned here before, and I'm sure it was over on ES but, apparently Snyder applied for the " Washington Warriors " trademark ( for an Arena Football league that was forming at the time ) in August, 2000, and was well on his way to getting it until what's called the Statement of Use part of the process, which is basically the Trademark Office asking for proof of Washington Warriors merchandise being sold.
He kept asking for and was granted five extensions before abandoning the trademark in 2005, as the league never formed.

Yeah it is a shame because I always just anticipated that some day there would be a forced name change and it would become Warriors. It's such a shame that didn't happen and don't get me started on there being any issue with the name Warriors

 

[Riggo44]

 

[Conn]

Thank god

 

[Primus Porcus]

I'm still in the camp that I don't hate a Black Alternate, the problem is the one they used could have been a lot better, and tied in to the actual colors of the team better.

 

[Commander PK]

I'm still in the camp that I don't hate a Black Alternate, the problem is the one they used could have been a lot better, and tied in to the actual colors of the team better.

I agree with this…the battle black wasn’t one of my biggest gripes, but I’m quite confident whatever is going to replace it is going to be substantially better in the eyes of most fans. Maybe the base color is still black? Hopefully we find out soon.