The Washington Commanders rebrand may be over, but the rebuild is not

Courtesy of Rob Carr

At long last, the Washington Football Team has unveiled their new identity.

Behold, the Washington Commanders.

The future of Washington football is here #TakeCommand pic.twitter.com/MwkCLTkVAA

— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) February 2, 2022

The football club once known as the Washington Redskins has at last completed the development of a full rebrand for the 2022 season and beyond.

Two summers ago, the franchise retired the original team name which stood for 87 years, and announced they would undergo a complete rebrand. The previous name was a long-standing point of discord, for its racial and disparaging connotations to Native Americans, and glorification of sustained genocide, dehumanization, and historical mistreatment of American Indians. 

Owner Dan Snyder stood his ground for two decades about the original name and insisted the franchise would never change it. Snyder grew up as a fan of the team before buying the franchise in 1999, and glorified the tradition and championship pedigree and identity associated with the name, bundled with the colors, logo, and fight song. Since the day he bought the team, Snyder insisted the name would never change, until shareholders turned up the heat. 

In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, the push against Washington's team name intensified unlike ever before. Sponsors including FedEx, the team stadium's sponsor, threatened to terminate their partnership with the team unless a name change was instated. Vendors including Target, Walmart, and Amazon said they would stop selling Washington team merchandise in their stores and websites, and Nike removed all team merchandise from its own website. Snyder's corporate sponsors backed ownership into an inescapable corner, and ignited a long overdue reset. 

In the immediate aftermath, all symbols and signage of the previous mascot were retired completely. The name, logo, and all such related imagery were eradicated from all physical and digital team spaces, including the uniforms, FedEx Field, team practice facilities, website, social media pages, and everywhere in between. 

On July 23, 2020, the franchise became known as the Washington Football Team. The name was announced as a stop-gap, and placeholder while the organization conducted a formal rebranding process, and select a permanent mascot for the new era. Head coach Ron Rivera appeared on Good Morning Football at the outset of the rebrand, telling their fans that it could take some time. 

What happened was we found the realization that this is about a 16 to 18-month process. This can’t happen instantly, so we’ve really got to do our homework, we’ve got to be very thorough with what we’re doing going forward. We want to get it right. We want this new name, this new nickname to be able to stand for 100 years. We’re going to be real busy with that. We’ve hired a firm that wants to be very diligent with their work, they want to be inclusive with their work. We’re going to do this right.

The organization announced Rivera would work alongside Snyder to develop the new name, to properly represent the team, fans, and community. The team also hired Jason Wright, a former NFL player and management consultant, to be the new team president in August 2020. While Wright's first assignment as president would be to guide the search for the team's brand new name, he would also be steering a ship of calamity out of crippling dysfunction. The organizational facelift begins with the name change, but roots much farther into the ground, trickling all the way down to the rotten day-to-day culture of team facilities.

Sobering reports from The Washington Post last year chronicle testimonies from dozens of former organizational employees who suffered from unending sexual harassment in the workplace. Allegations span over a decade and a half, documenting accounts of members of Snyder's inner circle, and multiple male figures within the organization making inappropriate physical and verbal contact, initiating unwelcome advances, imploring saleswomen to flirt with prospective shareholders, and even selling access to cheerleaders at a bikini photoshoot event to season ticket holders. Snyder was not directly accused of inappropriate workplace behavior, but he along with former longtime team president Bruce Allen were suggested to be more than complicit to it. 

The NFL took action on the Football Team, conducting a private investigation into the team's workplace misconduct. The league then laid down a heavy fine of $10 million, for fostering a toxic workplace culture of sexual misconduct, bullying, and intimidation. In the aftermath, the organization elevated Snyder's wife, Tanya, to co-owner, and she has since assumed all day-to-day operations and responsibilities indefinitely. The franchise facelift stemmed all to the top.

Washington owners Dan and Tanya Snyder at head coach Ron Rivera's introductory press conference in 2020 (Courtesy of Brad Mills).

The downfall of the Washington football franchise did not stop with in-house dysfunction. It disseminated onto the field, with sustained mediocre performances. Since winning Super Bowl XXVI in the 1991 season, Washington has qualified for the postseason on seven occasions, winning four division titles and three playoff games in that span, but none since 2005. Since Snyder bought the franchise prior to the 1999 season, Washington has a record of 194-268-1, and the team cycled through 25 different starting quarterbacks, and 10 head coaches. In that spell, Washington has never finished a regular season with more than 10 wins, or advanced farther than the Divisional Round. 

The current iteration of the team galvanizes excitement that they can turn fortunes around after three full decades of mediocrity, especially under the guidance and leadership of seasoned and respected head coach, Ron Rivera. Washington boasts as exciting a defensive front as any in football, including star players like Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, Montez Sweat, and reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year, Chase Young. Antonio Gibson and Terry McLaurin have proven to be diamonds in the rough and are flashy, explosive talents on the offensive side of the ball. Signal caller Taylor Heinicke has earned his place in the NFL with Washington and has delivered some exciting highlights in his 11 career starts, but he is not believed to be the quarterback of the future. 

The Washington Football Team finished third in the NFC East in the 2021 season, posting a 7-10 record (Courtesy of 13NewsNow).

Rivera's tenure began with promise, winning the NFC East crown in the 2020 season, despite finishing 7-9. Washington fell to the eventual Super Bowl winners, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and regressed to 6-10 last season. While there is talent infused into the roster, and steady coaching, mediocrity still glooms. Washington has not had a winning season since 2016.

While success on the field elude the Washington Football Team last season, controversy swirled inside FedEx Field all season long, including a near tragic accident during the team's final home game. 

As Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts walked off the field and into the locker room following a 20-16 road win, aluminum railing inside the stadium gave way, tumbling half a dozen Eagles fans down from the stands, and narrowly avoiding Hurts. Four fans say they experienced injuries from the incident, including one who was hospitalized, and a photographer for the Associated Press was also reported injured. Fans also say that the team did not approach the fans and ask them if they required medical assistance despite the team saying so on social media, rather that local EMS personnel reported at the scene to treat those who needed medical attention.

The incident went so far as to prompt Hurts to write a letter to the NFL and the Washington Football Team, calling for action, and answers.

#Eagles QB Jalen Hurts sent a letter today to the Washington Football Team and the NFL, asking what follow-up action will be taken after a “near-tragic incident” when a railing collapsed Sunday at FedEx Field. Several fans fell; Hurts narrowly avoided potentially serious injury. pic.twitter.com/dfgwGndH9h

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 4, 2022

A team spokesperson says that President Wright received Hurts' letter, and that he wrote back to the Eagles quarterback. Wright's message was not made public. 

Earlier in the regular season, the franchise committed a much more boneheaded institutional act by making a mockery of the late Sean Taylor's jersey retirement ceremony. Taylor was a former Washington Pro Bowl safety before he was tragically murdered in 2007 at 24 years old. Despite a short career, Taylor carries a strong legacy for his stellar playmaking ability, and being one of the league's hardest-hitting safeties in history.

The franchise announced his number retirement ceremony just three days before it was scheduled, during halftime of their Week 6 home game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Taylor's family admitted they were notified at the same time as the team's public announcement. The timing of the announcement came in the immediate aftermath of an incriminating Washington Post investigation which revealed exchanges of racist and homophobic epithets between former team president Bruce Allen and former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden. The ceremony itself did not include any speeches, Taylor's number was merely painted onto the sideline section where VIPs stand, which ignited its own controversy when Jackson Mahomes (brother of Patrick) filmed a TikTok dancing on Taylor's number. Taylor's family posed for photos, outside the stadium, at the newly renamed Sean Taylor Road, with a line of portable toilets in the background. 

The entire ceremony was thrown together in haste and hurry, so much so that Snyder showed up at halftime wearing a hoodie. The announcement gave little time for Taylor's former teammates or fans to make plans to attend what was a half-baked attempt to honor Taylor's legacy. 

After the game, President Wright conceded and spoke out about what the unbridled disaster, and conceded that the team bungled the bag.

We planned to do this right. But we screwed up the execution and, as a result, we realize that we hurt many of our fans deeply. And for that I and we as an organization are sorry. We thought that saving the news for a game week reveal was the best way to focus the message on Sean and his legacy. We didn't realize that so many of you wanted to make a trip to FedExField to be present for this moment -- a true lack of understanding of what you, the lifeblood of this franchise, needed to mourn our collective loss and celebrate Sean's legacy. I'm angry and sad that we messed up your opportunity to honor Sean in person this weekend. I feel a pit in my stomach knowing how we have let so many of you down.

It has been a deeply debilitating year for the organization, and an era they are hoping to override with a new code of paint. 

Formulating a brand new look was long, tenuous work for Washington, and a process that has finally culminated after 20 months. The team knew they would be unable to announce a new name swiftly until they landed on the right name, and claimed the trademark. During the 2020 season, Wright said the franchise filed for trademarks on more than 30 names, and the approval process would not allow for an immediate acquisition. Obtaining legal rights to the eventual winner would take some time on top of the lengthy selection process.

The team eagerly opted to keep the color scheme intact, those being burgundy and gold. Apart from the color codes, everything was on the table. 

By March 2021, the team collected over 15,000 idea submissions from fans spread across all 50 states, and 60 countries. The fanbase was included in workshopping names since the beginning, and no stone was left unturned in narrowing the choices. 

President Wright even sent a letter to season ticketholders with a survey of name options to vote for, or as Wright indicated, "to capture insights and perspectives that will be as important to this next phase of our rebrand journey." From the lists sent out by Wright, sample names in consideration included Aviators, Wild Hogs, Presidents, Capital City Football Club, Ambassadors, Monarchs, Riders, Redwolves, Commanders, Renegades, and D.C. Football Club, among many others. Even the Football Team was listed, and Wright admitted that it was a strong contender to become the permanent moniker beyond 2021.

"I don’t think anything is off the table," Wright explained in an interview. "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."

On January 4, the team announced a rebrand unveiling for February 2. By the final stretch, the finalists included Admirals, Armanda, Brigade, Sentinels, Defenders, Red Hogs, Presidents the incumbent placeholder, “Washington Football Team" and the ultimately chosen Commanders. 

The new team name, the flashy gold stars and stripes, and rebranding unveiling provides a welcome distraction for Washington fans from the turmoil and calamity which invariably haunts this ballclub. And there is unequivocally no doubt that eradicating and replacing the status quo moniker which stood for 87 years was a good first step in stabilizing the franchise. But changing the team's nickname, mascot, and fight song does not eliminate years of documented sexual assault in the workplace, distasteful halftime ceremonies, everlasting organizational disorder, and dismal returns on the field. 

The Washington Commanders won't take full flight until the team fully exercises the yesteryear demons of the Washington Redskins, and even the Washington Football Team. The team's quest for redemption begins now, but there is work to be done.