
Josh Harris gave his end-of-the-season press conference today at 11 am. That’s right. You aren’t imagining this. The owner of the Washington franchise is giving an end-of-the-season press conference. How refreshing is it to have an owner who is not a reclusive tyrant who scurries from the press like a cockroach when the lights are turned on in the kitchen?
Josh Harris spent 95% of the press conference discussing two topics: The Commanders name and brand and the new stadium efforts. Let’s tackle the Commanders name and brand in this article and deal with the new stadium in a separate article.
Before addressing the Commanders name and brand, Harris kicked off the press conference by stating that he and the ownership group were focusing on winning football games, fixing up the training facility at Ashburn, VA, and getting a new stadium. None of this is a surprise. Harris has been repeating this statement over and over, like a nonna saying the rosary, whenever he has been asked about the Commanders name and brand.
However, upon further questioning, Harris delivered the most direct and emphatic answer to whether or not the team might be dropping their Dan Snyder-created name. To put it bluntly, no. Harris clearly stated that the team is not changing the name. That the Commanders name is staying. This is about as direct as one can get. I know better than to never say never. After all, Dan Snyder swore he would NEVER change the name from the Redskins.
Having said that, Harris did not mince words at all. There was no equivocating. The team is not changing the name. Harris then offered up his reasons as to why the team would not change the name. Harris pointed to the fact that the Commanders name has been embraced by the coaches and players. That the name Commanders has been embraced by the culture Dan Quinn has created. That the Commanders name has been clearly defined by Adam Peters and Dan Quinn. We did know this as we learned leading up to the 2024 draft that Peters placed “Commanders tags” on draft prospects with certain desired characteristics.
All of this is wonderful for the team. It is great that the coaches and players have embraced the name. It is nice that Peters and Quinn have created a definition for what a Commander is and used that as the foundation for their culture. All of this shows that internally the Commanders name has been embraced. However, I do not think that was ever the question.
The problem is that all that matters is how the Commanders name has been embraced externally. The coaches and players will embrace any name you give them. They have to. It is their job. Harris is their boss. If the team was called the Fighting Donkeys then Peters would roll out a “Fighting Donkeys tag” for players with the desired characteristics. The coaches and players would talk about what it means to be a Fighting Donkey and make that the basis for the culture. You can literally do all of this no matter what the name of the team may be.
However, it is different when viewed externally. For Harris, all that should matter is what the fans think of the team name. Coaches and players do not purchase merchandise or shell out big bucks for season tickets. Coaches and players do not fuel local TV ratings. Fans are the financial lifeblood of any NFL franchise. When it comes to the name and branding all that matters is the opinion of the fanbase not the paid employees of the NFL franchise.
At no point did Harris say that surveys of fans have shown a majority of the fanbase like the name Commanders and want to keep it. At no point did Harris say that fans love the Commanders name and have rallied around it. It was not what Harris said in defense of keeping the Commadners name that mattered. It was what Harris did not say that mattered. Harris not mentioning the fans’ support of the Commanders name was deafening.
I think this is a mistake by Harris and the ownership group to dismiss a massive percentage of the fanbase when it comes to the Dan Snyder-created Commanders name. Harris appears to be determined to ram this round peg into a square hole. Maybe it will work. But, the fact that local TV ratings are so poor despite an objectively entertaining and brilliant 2024 season emphasizes that many Redskins fans have not returned to the franchise.
While Harris was clear that the Commanders name would be staying, he did not rule out a rebrand. In fact, Harris did say that a possible rebrand would be happening with the franchise heading back to the past to honor its roots. This would go hand-in-hand with reports from multiple sources in DC sports radio and podcasts that the Commies are preparing to “tweak” their uniforms.
I have no idea how the sources define the word “tweak.” I would imagine that this means the helmet will return to the glossy burgundy with the triple yellow and white stripes that the Redskins helmets had. I would also think that this points to the classic Redskins jerseys and pants that the franchise wore from 1979 to 2019. Those jerseys were largely the same. The only big difference was that the 1979 to 1998 jerseys had much wider stripes on the ends of the sleeves while the 1999 to 2019 jerseys had more narrow stripes on the ends of the sleeves.
Other than that, the Redskins jerseys from 1979 to 2019 were largely the same. The white jerseys had jersey numbers on the sleeves with wide yellow and burgundy stripes on the end of the sleeves. The white jerseys had burgundy numbers outlined in yellow. The burgundy jerseys had jersey numbers on the sleeves with wide yellow and white stripes on the end of the sleeves. The burgundy jerseys had white numbers outlined by yellow.
The pants were also largely the same from 1979 to 2019. The white pants had two stripes down the side one in burgundy and one in gold. The burgundy pants had two stripes down the side one in yellow and one in white.
Of course, the “tweak” to the uniforms could be much more minor with the current Commies burgundy jersey staying the same and the white Commies jersey getting minor changes so that the black is removed and the red on the jersey looks like the Commies’ burgundy rather than the Arizona Cardinals’ red.
The “tweak” could also mean keeping the current set of pants but adding stripes to the sides. The “tweak” might also mean keeping the current matte scarlet helmet and adding the yellow and white triple stripes to the center.
I am sure we will learn more before training camp begins. It is usually in the late spring or early summer that we begin to get flooded with uniform-related news from the various NFL franchises.
At any rate, the long and short of it is that Commies fans are not going to have to think about a name change any more. Fans who are upset by this will have to decide if they want to move on to another team or not. The proletariat will be happy that the Commies will remain the People’s Team. Hail to the Commies.
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