Let’s Name the Washington Football Club - Serious or Not So

[JosephReidBooks]

It's not that far off "Gridiron." And it lends itself to headlines like, "Cowboy's Stalled by Gridlock Defense."

[rasputin]

I'm going with the "Washington Fubars."

[devildeac]

I'm going with the "Washington Fubars."

I wanna see the mascot, logo and PR campaign for this one...

[rsvman]

I'm going with the "Washington Fubars."

Sorry, we were looking for a mascot and a logo, not a description of the organization.

[rasputin]

Sorry, we were looking for a mascot and a logo, not a description of the organization.

I was describing a city, not an organization.

[DU82]

I'm going with the "Washington Fubars."

Fubar is a military term, so it works with what they are looking for!

[MChambers]

I was describing a city, not an organization.

The city is just fine, I'll have you know! :-)

[rsvman]

The city is just fine, I'll have you know! :-)

The organization, not so much...

[DevilHorse]

In the spirit of Prince, how about...

"The Team Formerly Known as The Washington Redskins."

Checks a lot of the boxes. Accurate.
The Logo might be a bit difficult. The old one with an circle/line is not inspiring.

Larry
DevilHorse

[CameronBornAndBred]

So in a week we'll know the name of the new team. From what I've read, those that know aren't thrilled by it. Here's a good quote from past player Charles Mann.

While Mann didn't elaborate on whether he knows the exact name the Burgundy and Gold is set to unveil on Feb. 2, he did explain that he was recently made aware of the finalists (along with other former players) and, uh, those choices weren't received that well.

"They gave us the three names probably three months ago on a Zoom call and they asked us about all three of them," he said. "We crucified all three names."

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/washing...153005933.html

I've read a few other similar ones, as well. Basically "bleah, but whatever" attitudes.

Now that we are only days away, any guesses? My personal guess is Hogs, tying them into the front row fans in pig snouts and dresses.

[wilson]

So in a week we'll know the name of the new team. From what I've read, those that know aren't thrilled by it. Here's a good quote from past player Charles Mann.


https://www.yahoo.com/sports/washing...153005933.html

I've read a few other similar ones, as well. Basically "bleah, but whatever" attitudes.

Now that we are only days away, any guesses? My personal guess is Hogs, tying them into the front row fans in pig snouts and dresses.

It's gonna be "Commanders."

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

So in a week we'll know the name of the new team. From what I've read, those that know aren't thrilled by it. Here's a good quote from past player Charles Mann.


https://www.yahoo.com/sports/washing...153005933.html

I've read a few other similar ones, as well. Basically "bleah, but whatever" attitudes.

Now that we are only days away, any guesses? My personal guess is Hogs, tying them into the front row fans in pig snouts and dresses.

I really think they are missing out on a singular opportunity. Keep the WFT name. It's unique. It speaks to the history of the mascot without saying it outloud. It doesn't hide from anything.

You can be an outlier in sports - we are the football team that plays in DC and you know who we are.

The only reason I can imagine not doing this is I suppose it limits some marketing opportunities.

[camion]

I really think they are missing out on a singular opportunity. Keep the WFT name. It's unique. It speaks to the history of the mascot without saying it outloud. It doesn't hide from anything.

You can be an outlier in sports - we are the football team that plays in DC and you know who we are.

The only reason I can imagine not doing this is I suppose it limits some marketing opportunities.

I'd change it up a little bit and go with Washington Team Football.


That's what I always see when I read WFT anyway.

[Bluedog]

Seems like the early favorites (both from a fan and team perspective) can't be chosen because of trademark issues with "Wolves." RedWolves seemed to resonate with a lot of people, but they didn't want to be in litigation over it apparently.

[jv001]

So in a week we'll know the name of the new team. From what I've read, those that know aren't thrilled by it. Here's a good quote from past player Charles Mann.


https://www.yahoo.com/sports/washing...153005933.html

I've read a few other similar ones, as well. Basically "bleah, but whatever" attitudes.

Now that we are only days away, any guesses? My personal guess is Hogs, tying them into the front row fans in pig snouts and dresses.

How about The Washington Burgandy and Gold? That shouldn't offend anyone other than people that hate those colors. Maybe it will be, The Washington Senators, the old name for the Washington baseball team. However, that will surely offend many people.

[cato]

I really think they are missing out on a singular opportunity. Keep the WFT name. It's unique. It speaks to the history of the mascot without saying it outloud. It doesn't hide from anything.

You can be an outlier in sports - we are the football team that plays in DC and you know who we are.

The only reason I can imagine not doing this is I suppose it limits some marketing opportunities.

Plus that really would have undercut some consultant’s hefty price tag to rebrand the team.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

How about The Washington Burgandy and Gold? That shouldn't offend anyone other than people that hate those colors. Maybe it will be, The Washington Senators, the old name for the Washington baseball team. However, that will surely offend many people.

Senators would be certain to offend everyone I suppose.

[elvis14]

The names that I've heard mention are not good, IMHO. Commanders, Hogs, Red Hogs, Red Wolves, etc. I was a fan back in the day when the O-Line was called the Hogs but I don't really want the franchise named after a pig. It was appropriate for an o-line that was seen as blue collar, in the dirt, big guys.

I know that there are legal issues with lots of the names and I think that's the reason we were left with crap. I wanted "Warriors" with a military theme but it was eliminated months ago.

I may have posted this before but this was handled so very poorly by the WFT organization (they generally most things poorly). Years ago the writing was on the wall that the name would eventually changes. Like it or not the meaning of words and phrases change over time and if anything else it was because of that it was time to retire the Redskins name. I was surprised they decided to move away from native American imagery and I know a lot of fans were very disappointed in this. Years ago the organization should have been doing market studies on replacement names, trademarking potential names, etc. Instead the owner stomped his feet like a petulant child and said the name would not change. Had he done that publicly but privately hired a team to work on the inevitable rebrand we wouldn't be left with such poor excuses for new team name.

At this point, no matter what the team announces, it's going to be unpopular and it's going to take time (years, decades) to shake off the stink. Socializing the name and being successful is really going to require two things: winning, young fans growing up with the name (and older fans dying off and taking Redskins with them). I know that's not nice but it's true.

[Indoor66]

How about The Washington Burgandy and Gold? That shouldn't offend anyone other than people that hate those colors. Maybe it will be, The Washington Senators, the old name for the Washington baseball team. However, that will surely offend many people.

Yeah. Especially the members of the House of Representatives.

[Rich]

Seems like the early favorites (both from a fan and team perspective) can't be chosen because of trademark issues with "Wolves." RedWolves seemed to resonate with a lot of people, but they didn't want to be in litigation over it apparently.

I guess the statute of limitations is over and I can tell this story here.

In 1997 when the WNBA was getting off the ground, as one of the trademark attorneys at the NBA I was tasked with vetting the proposed team names for legal issues. There were hundreds of names, prioritized in order of preference for each team, that needed to be "cleared," the process by which we in Legal review third party trademarks for potential infringement issues. It took months of arduous, tedious work reviewing countless paper-bound trademark search reports consisting in total of literally thousands of pages.

It was finally the day for my manager and me to present our findings to the top brass, including the President of NBA Properties (Rick Welts), the head of the group that is the NBA liaison with the teams (Paula ???), the new commissioner of the WNBA (Val Ackerman), and, of course, Commissioner David Stern at the head of the table. Of all the names, we were pleased (and relieved) to report that the top choices for 7 teams were legally available. Then we came to the last team in Utah. We believed there would be risk in using the name Starzz, the top choice for the Utah team, due to a minor league basketball team by the same name. We explained the rationale and provided a pretty standard risk of infringement analysis.

David Stern, with a reputation of making people cry in meetings like this, scanned the room, looked at my manager, looked at me, was clearly not happy, and exclaimed, "F*ck 'em, let 'em sue us."

And that is my story of how the Utah Starzz got their name!