Washington Football Team president Jason Wright recently sat down with ESPN’s John Keim for a wide-ranging interview that included a few notes about the franchise’s ongoing rebrand.
Wright said that Washington has filed for trademarks on more than 30 different nicknames, but also noted the name of choice might not be announced for another year — though it might be known internally by early spring. The hope is to announce the name and unveil the logo and uniforms together instead of rolling out one after another.
“The last thing our fan base wants is something messy and embarrassing,” Wright said, noting how it took the NHL’s Seattle Kraken four years to develop their name, color scheme and logos. “We’ll move a lot faster than that.”
Wright also acknowledged the Washington Football Team nickname — which was originally intended to be a placeholder while the franchise gathered input from players, alumni, fans and sponsors — could become the permanent name when it’s all said and done.
“It’s definitely in the running,” Wright said. “I don’t think anything is off the table. With this one, people are excited about the idea of a club has an identity rooted solely in the area it represents. Maybe it’s Football Team or it’s Football Club. We need to get underneath the why, so no matter what direction we go, we can pull on the heartstrings of folks.”
Other names under consideration include the Red Tails and Red Wolves.
“We could do something around conservation and animal rights,” Wright said of the Red Wolves moniker. “That’s a compelling idea — an idea around the fan experience of a howl that would fill the stadium. Underneath for us is to understand why. Are we an environmentally savvy fan base across fan groups?”
The organization ties to the military makes Red Tails, a nod to the Tuskegee Airmen, an intriguing option. In fact, Wright and senior vice president of player development Doug Williams met with 100-year-old Tuskegee Airman Brigade General Charles McGee late last month to discuss the potential name change.
“If you’re repping this area, you have to go big on vets,” Wright said.
That said, the one thing that will remain intact is Washington’s burgundy and gold color scheme.
“It would take a lot to change the burgundy and gold. You can put that one in pen. I don’t see us moving off that at any point,” Wright said. “That’s not actively being considered.”
Photos courtesy of @WashingtonNFL on Twitter.
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