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Senate discusses bill to decide future of RFK Stadium
A Senate subcommittee held a hearing Wednesday to discuss the bill that would turn over control of the RFK stadium site to the District of Columbia. While there’s momentum for this — the House overwhelmingly passed this bill earlier this year — there’s also a bit of a pause right now. The reason has to do with the team’s old logo. FOX 5's David Kaplan has the story.
WASHINGTON - A Senate subcommittee held a hearing Wednesday to discuss the bill that would turn over control of the RFK stadium site to the District of Columbia.
If it passes, the bill would pave the way for a potential move by the Commanders back to D.C.
While there’s momentum for this — the House overwhelmingly passed this bill earlier this year — there’s also a bit of a pause right now.
The reason has to do with the team’s old logo.
There’s no guarantee at this point if this bill passes that the Commanders will rebuild, but it’s a necessary step for it to be a possibility.
Republican Montana Senator Steve Daines says to support the legislation that would transfer the land to the District, he wants to see some tribute to the old logo of the team.
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The House voted Wednesday in favor of giving the D.C. government full control over the old RFK Stadium site and surrounding land.
He doesn’t want a restoration to the old team name, but he says the logo is important to some of his constituents, and members of the Blackfeet Nation – a Native American tribe in Montana that gave the inspiration for the old logo, which the team had for about 50 years.
Daines wants to see some gesture, some effort from the team to honor Native American heritage.
FOX 5 spoke with Ryan Wetzel on Wednesday.
He lives in Montana and is the grandson of the man who gave the team the inspiration for the logo.
He says the family wants to see this happen.
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"Those people still exist, and they love what this logo is all about," Wetzel explained. "I understand the name piece. I come from a reservation. I’m a native man, and I get the mixed emotions there, and I respect that. But this logo is something that’s very powerful. It’s a real person. I would love to see that still exist and just not completely wiped out and banned."
"That’s just not fair," he continued. "It needs to exist."
FOX 5 has confirmed that Wetzel has had a conversation with the team as recently as this week to discuss a way to honor his family and heritage.
The conversation is ongoing.
FOX 5 spoke with some fans who were split on the issue.
"If that was the original [logo], then, people had a problem with it, but people were still fans at the end of the day," said Commanders fan Jayla Towles. "Somewhere, somehow, people were still fans of the team, and the team is the logo. You need both."
"Due to that it was taken away, maybe it shouldn’t be brought back," said Amauri Mitchell. "Maybe, like a different type of logo, maybe not representing the same one. Basically kind of what Jayla said, putting everything together to honor Native Americans.