WASHINGTON — The Washington Football Team will soon be ditching their generic name and officially picking a new one, Team President Jason Wright announced Tuesday.
The new name will be announced next month on Feb. 2.
The team has already shared some top fan picks that have been vetoed, including Wolves and Redwolves, as well as Warriors. Although those names won’t be ultimately be chosen, Wright acknowledged how passionate fans were about those options and therefore shared their reasoning behind foregoing them.
“Once we began looking into Wolves . . . we became aware of a notable challenge: trademarks held by other teams would limit our ability to make the name our own. And without Wolves, variations like RedWolves wouldn't have been viable either,” he said in a statement. “We didn't want to risk going down a route that could be dotted with legal hurdles. The prospect of years of litigation wasn't something that we wanted you, our fans, to have to bear as you begin to embrace a new brand.”
Warriors was eliminated as an option in July 2021 due to the fact that the name could continue to carry some Native American symbolism.
"Feedback from across communities we engaged clearly revealed deep-seated discomfort around Warriors, with the clear acknowledgment that it too closely aligns with Native American themes,” he said in a tweet at the time.
Wright has confirmed previously that the team will be moving forward with no ties to Native American imagery. He’s added that the goal for a new name is to "unite us" and that he hopes the future name choice will bring the DMV together.
“We can finally say that we are in the home stretch of our rebrand journey. We know this has been a long process -- one with a lot of pieces and details -- and we appreciate you sticking with us,” Wright said in a tweeted video on Tuesday morning.
Wright also shared his confidence with the new name choice they are preparing to reveal.
“We are very excited about our final selection, which aligns with our values, carries forth our rich history, represents the region and, most importantly, is inspired and informed by you, our fans,” he said. “We are confident that this identity is one that our team and our fans across D.C., Maryland, Virginia and beyond can rally behind for another 90 years and more as we continue to cheer on the Burgundy & Gold in this next chapter.”