Washington Redskins To Temporarily Change Name To Washington Football Team

As first reported on Thursday morning by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Washington Redskins will now call themselves the Washington Football Team until they adopt a new nickname in the future.

Washington, which earlier this month announced plans to retire the controversial Redskins name and logo at the conclusion of a “thorough review,” hopes to remove all references to its past from physical and digital spaces by the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 13.

The team will continue to use a burgundy and gold color scheme, but will replace the Redskins logo on the helmet with the player’s jersey number in gold. The Redskins wordmark just below the collar will also be replaced with a new Washington wordmark, while uniform mockups shared by the team also show the removal of the team’s white and gold helmet stripes.

The temporary decision gives the franchise more time to gather input from players, alumni, fans and sponsors in its search for a new nickname, as well as time to settle the reported trademarking issues that have held up the unveiling of a new identity.

“To date, we have been pleased to see so many people putting forward their vision of what the new name and design should be on their social media channels and we look forward to including their feedback as this process progresses,” Washington said in a press release.