It wasn’t a ‘woke’ decision to change the Washington football team’s name. It was a business call

When President Donald Trump reopened a long-closed conversation about the name of the Washington NFL team, he and others implied that liberal thinking forced the venerable franchise to change its name from Redskins to Commanders in 2022.

When President Donald Trump reopened a long-closed conversation about the name of the Washington NFL team, he and others implied that liberal thinking forced the venerable franchise to change its name from Redskins to Commanders in 2022. It wasn’t “wokeness” that led to that moment. It was capitalism. Corporate sponsors made the decision, not politicians or fans. On July 2, 2020, after the murder of George Floyd in late May and the resulting national conversation on race and racism, FedEx – the title sponsor of the team’s stadium at the time – called on the franchise to change its name. Nike removed Redskins apparel from its website on the same day. The next day, the league and the organization announced that they were reviewing the team’s name. Soon, Amazon, Target and Walmart also removed Redskins merchandise from their stores and websites. At a time of heightened corporate sensitivity to racism, the franchise suddenly saw the possibility of millions of dollars in revenue being lost due to the Redskins name. After years of controversy, the organization’s then-leadership finally saw the financial writing on the wall and gave up a fight they had promised to wage forever. On July 13, the team announced it was retiring its name and logo and would go by the name Washington Football Team for the time being. Less than two years later, after a contest to rename the team, it became the Commanders.