Why did the Washington Commanders change their name?

The Washington Commanders were known as the Washington Redskins from 1937 to 2020. The franchise’s nickname was the subject of much debate for decades—protesters believed that the term was a racial slur that was offensive to Native Americans, but supporters argued that the name reflected pride in the team’s heritage—that reached a head in 2014. In June of that year, the U.S. Patent Office canceled the team’s trademark of the name on the ground that the term was disparaging to Native Americans. The team appealed the decision, and the team’s owner at the time vowed that he would not change the name. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the team’s appeal in October 2016 but instead heard a similar appeal that led to a Court ruling in June 2017 that struck down, on First Amendment grounds, the U.S. government’s ban on offensive trademark registrations.

However, in 2020, amid nationwide protests for racial equality, the team announced that it was no longer going to be known as the Redskins. The club played as the Washington Football Team during the 2020 and 2021 seasons before adopting the name Commanders in 2022.