Josh Harris Speaks... Commanders is permanent name.

[Boone]

The nickname, seeing that we are forever saddled with this, has got to be Commies. 'Ders? Good lord no. I love the name about as much as Communism. So 'Commies' it will be.

 

[ExoDus84]

This is a crucial decision that will make or break his ownership in the long term. He may have punched a hole in his bucket of goodwill that can never be patched.

I'm sure you're as disappointed with the name news as I am, but your post is quite hyperbolic.

Very few people will care if we're back in the playoffs next year and continuing to win games.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Raise Hail is so much better than HTTC. It's original--the worst part of this rebrand was the lazy, just repurposing of everything Redskins. That and the white jerseys.

I think this is probably the thing for me. Whether it was Snyder, Wright, some combination of the two of them or whatever, the whole thing just seemed extremely low energy. Almost like, "look, they're going to hate it no matter what so who the flip cares what we name it."

The announcement on 2.2.22 on Good Morning America was an abomination.
"Doug, what's our name?"
"We are the Commanders." (Doug Williams hugging Jon Allen who looked like he would prefer to be in the Pit of Despair having the life tortured out of him one day at a time than sitting in an empty FedEx field on a cold day announcing a name which he knew stunk.)
"We are the Commanders" (Jason Wright)
"Ahhhh haaaaa! You didn't waste any time there?!" (Lindsay Czarniak's husband who's name I can't remember.)

That was appalling. No thought was put into it. No video to run, no nostalgia, no nothing.

The rollout was bad, low energy, and just plain lazy.

I do wonder now that the new group has "embraced' the name, if they are going to really embrace it and do a refresh on things. We've heard they're going to do a little refresh on the uniforms. Hopefully they get rid of those awful white tops with the dumb as spots for numbers.

I think they can do a lot with the brand. Just because it hasn't been done, doesn't mean it can't be done.

I would also offer, they need a better logo than the W. That was CLEARLY the team trying to kindof stay Washington Football Team and change the name at the same time. Like they couldn't decide. So they went with the W as the logo and the Commanders as the name. The old logo and name aren't coming back. But they CAN change the logo. The Broncos an Patriots (and I'm sure others, but those two stick out) have both had radical changes to their logos.

I don't know what they would use as a "Commander" logo. (This was actually my biggest issue with the name, not the fact it was boring or you couldn't abbreviate it, but what the hell do you put on a helmet. Clearly they couldn't think of anything, so they picked a letter. Dumb.)

Anyway, bottom line, the rollout was sloppy and low energy. If the team had really gone "all in" it might have worked. They didn't, which is another reason why the name ties back to Wright and Snyder in a bad way.

 

[burgold]

I have a feeling we will be somewhat like the Steelers. No one calls them the Steel or the eelers. Commies sounds like the name our rivals will call us like they used to do with Deadskins. Maybe a nickname will evolve, but I dislike Commies, Comms, and 'Ders.

It's not shorter, but I probably wouldn't hate Hail Raisers as a nickname.

 

[HTTR4EVER]

I'm sure you're as disappointed with the name news as I am, but your post is quite hyperbolic.

Very few people will care if we're back in the playoffs next year and continuing to win games.

Consistent winning is like a running faucet that will keep the bucket full as long as it continues to run. The problem with a hole is that the bucket drains when the faucet turns off.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

From the moment Harris bought the franchise he has slowly but steadily accumulated goodwill with the fanbase. This is a crucial decision that will make or break his ownership in the long term. He may have punched a hole in his bucket of goodwill that can never be patched.

No it won't. What will make or break his ownership is if the team wins or not. If it does, he's fine. If it doesn't, he's not.

 

[Riggo Reincarnated]

Is he unwilling to commit to the money for a rebrand?

 

[burgold]

Consistent winning is like a running faucet that will keep the bucket full as long as it continues to run. The problem with a hole is that the bucket drains when the faucet turns off.

Maybe. Probably for you and I, but for the majority... No one says Bullets anymore. Everyone hated Wizards.

 

[SkinsGuru]

The logo isn't coming back. We need to stop. There's no way humanly possible to have the name 'Commanders' and that logo. It's not happening.

So how do they "bring the logo back to prominence" as they agreed to to have a chance to use the old RFK site???? That was highly publicized, so some sort of agreement would have to be in place. Throwbacks maybe? if not on any of the uniforms, or the field, its not being brought back to prominence.

 

[ExoDus84]

Consistent winning is like a running faucet that will keep the bucket full as long as it continues to run. The problem with a hole is that the bucket drains when the faucet turns off.

We just played in the NFCCG. We have a franchise QB. More hope than we've had in 30 years.

The bucket doesn't have holes. You (and a lot of us) just want a different coat of paint on the new, hole-free bucket.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Is he unwilling to commit to the money for a rebrand?

My guess, and this is only a guess, is they did some market research, and found that with a winning team, the merch was selling at the same pace with the same profit as it would if the name was anything else.

And therefore, why change anything? From a business perspective, this year proved enough fans are willing to buy Commander's merch to make a re-brand a costly and risky proposition.

IF, given the year and results, the team had struggled to sell merch, then it really could be the name is an issue effecting the bottom line.

But it's clearly not.

So, why spend $50 million if your customer base are telling you they don't care with their wallet?

This is a much bigger issue for older fans, the younger fans don't care. And the middle fans don't exist or don't care because the Redskins were suck from basically 1993 - 2023. So apart from die-hard fans of that era, people growing up then never saw a winning Redskins team. There were some die-hards. You'll find them here, Reddit, Twitter, etc. But the vast majority? Eh.

Harris is a private equity guy. I'd bet all the money in my left front pocket they studied the crap out of this, and then decided it would be flushing money down the toilet because they're making the same amount now as they would if they re-branded.

Ergo. No rebrand.

 

[burgold]

So, this is related and not related. Someone pointed out that the distance between 2025 and 1985 is the same distance as 1985 and 1945. When I was in my teens in 1985, 1945 only existed in the history books. It wasn't ancient history like the Roman Empire or Egypt, but it wasn't all that dissimilar either. It was US history not contemporary history. It was in the same category as the Civil War and Revolutionary War.

For many, the same is true of Redskins. The days where Redskins was a name to be proud of is not quite ancient history, but it's not part of their lives. I really think there would have been pushback to any name. I didn't mind Red Wolves. Commanders always felt "blah" to me, but worse than the name was the lie that we were told we were part of the decision making process, that our vote counted. We know that Commanders never won any poll. It was never the fan choice and they tried to tell us it was. Lying to my face is not a way to get me on your side.

 

[Boone]

burgold nails it. They lied to our faces. They showed utter disrespect to the fanbase. It's not that life as we know it will cease to exist with this name. We will all move on because that's what grown ups do. We have no choice. But it will always be there.

As reflected in our temporary logo, I am actually more upset by this than I was the original name change because I understood the rationale for going against fan wishes there. There is no good rationale for going against fan wishes here - not one that I will ever respect. It's telling fans for a 2nd time that their feelings and sentiments don't mean jack shit.

 

[JoeyG]

I believe that this is a significant mistake by ownership and will cost them a lot of goodwill with the fans and ultimately they will not make as much money as they would have with a proper re-brand and better name. This is the end of the honeymoon for ownership

 

[Boone]

I have a lot of disdain for Doug Williams in all this too. He was one of the few folks in the organization (both pre-Jason Wright and now) who could've stressed the importance of not totally ****ing a name change up. Instead, being the company man that he is, he just got in line and tried to sell what he had to know was an absolute shit product.

Thanks a lot Mr. Williams.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

burgold nails it. They lied to our faces. They showed utter disrespect to the fanbase. It's not that life as we know it will cease to exist with this name. We will all move on because that's what grown ups do. We have no choice. But it will always be there.

As reflected in our temporary logo, I am actually more upset by this than I was the original name change because I understood the rationale for going against fan wishes there. There is no good rationale for going against fan wishes here - not one that I will ever respect. It's telling fans for a 2nd time that their feelings and sentiments don't mean jack shit.

You're more upset now? Did I read you right or misunderstood?

"Fan wishes" here, by their calculations, are not the majority and fan wishes to the owners are more fleeting seemingly. That is why, I was saying, if people really care there may be some narrow window (I don't know of course, could be wrong) to make them understand that. They may not appreciate how important it is to some. They may look at it more like: "OK, some fans don't like the name"

If it more carefully conveyed as, a LARGE / VOCAL contingent of fans don't like the name because of (all of the more valid reasons you and others have stated here), I wonder if it would matter. They may have started with simple ideas:
1) Is it worth it to change the name? Will we get financial value
2) Will fans dislike for the name really matter for sales if we can do certain other things with the team

They may not have factored in the things that have been mentioned. One thing about Harris in his decision making - I think he is a pretty sharp guy. He may be willing to shift decisions given new information (one of the hallmarks of smart people to me).

 

[bowhunter]

I would love to see a native American tribe adopt the Redskins name and sell gear/jerseys in our colors. I don't want to buy any "Commanders" gear but yet don't want the proceeds from any counterfeit Redskins purchases to go to some overseas sweatshop/Nike plant.

 

[RedWolf]

Washington works for me. I hate commanders

I'm not going to let this get my panties all in a bunch or fall on a sword for it

 

[burgold]

I think one way to go for some fans might be to sell blanks. That is a jersey without the logos, but with the correct colors, stripes, numbers, and everything else. Probably a dumb idea, but I can see it having some appeal.

 

[burgold]

What would have been amazing is if a Native American run group bought the team and then said, "We're bringing back Redskins" while staring the cameras dead in the eye and daring them to say anything. But that's fiction.