Redskins cannot move to new stadium unless team name changes: report
WASHINGTON (FOX NEWS) - The Washington Redskins are reportedly stuck at FedEx Field unless the organization decides to change its name.
FedEx asks Redskins to change team name; Nike appears to remove merchandise from website
The title sponsor of the Washington Redskins' stadium wants the NFL team to change its name. In a statement Thursday, FedEx said: ‘We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name.’
The team is looking to move to a new stadium in the near future, but their relocation from Maryland to the RFK Stadium in D.C. now hinges on the organization’s willingness to change its name, FOX 5 has confirmed.
Government officials echoed the same message.
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“I call on Dan Snyder once again to face that reality, since he does still desperately want to be in the nation’s capital,” D.C.’s nonvoting House Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton said. “He has got a problem he can’t get around — and he particularly can’t get around it today, after the George Floyd killing.”
D.C. Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio agreed with Norton.
“There is no viable path, locally or federally, for the Washington football team to return to Washington, D.C., without first changing the team name,” he said.
READ STATEMENT from National Congress Of American Indians
Washington currently plays at FedEx Field in Landover, Md. The stadium opened in 1997.
An exterior view of FedExField before a game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins at FedExField on October 21, 2018 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
READ MORE: Nike, FedEx, PepsiCo asked to cut ties with Redskins until name changed: report
FOX 5 has confirmed that the Redskins expressed interest in playing at RFK Stadium after a bill was introduced in 2019 urging the federal government to sell the land to the city. The bill won’t pass unless the land is used for the team under a different name.
The Redskins nickname has come under even more scrutiny since the police-involved death of Floyd in May. The name has been deemed “racist” by many, but the organization has refused to change it. Snyder has said he’s not open to changing the name and views it as an honor toward Native Americans.
The Washington team has been known as the Redskins since 1933, when they changed their name from the Boston Braves to the Boston Redskins. The team then moved to the Washington area in 1937.
READ STATEMENT from Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton
On Thursday evening, FedEx released the following statement to FOX 5:
"We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name.“
Major investor, Nike, also appeared to remove Redskins merchandise from their website Thursday. FOX 5 is awaiting an official statement from the company.