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Washington Redskins: Will the NFL now force a name change?

By Dan Salem

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The Washington Redskins lost their trademark. Will the NFL now force a name change? With their image gone, what’s a fan to do? Dan Salem and Todd Salem debate in today’s NFL Sports Debate. Check out more of the brothers in Seesaw Sports Debate on BuzzChomp. Two brothers from New York yell, scream, and debate sports.

TODD:

Just a few days ago, a federal judge ruled to uphold the cancellation of the Redskins trademark. In layman’s terms, as far as I can tell, the Washington professional football franchise will still be able and allowed to use the Redskins nickname and moniker, but so will anyone else (within reason, as explained by Darren Heitner of Forbes.com).

That means in essence that the Redskins merchandise, the logo, etc. can be created and distributed by anyone who so pleases. Essentially, Washington D.C. has lost the control over its image.

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To me this means it is only a matter of time until Dan Snyder and company change the nickname of the football team.

The group didn’t care one iota about the feelings of Native Americans or the disparaging history behind the term Redskin; but what they do care about is money. Losing the trademark on their nickname will have to be a huge hit to the bottom line.

You and I could get together tonight and draw up the exact Redskins logo, slap it on some merch and sell that stuff for nickels if we wanted. How can that not harm the image, identity and spreadsheet of the NFL team? (NOTE: Jake Novak of CNBC.com has more on this thought).

Do you see this ruling having as major of an impact on the future of the organization as I do? Also, how do you feel about the changing of the name in general? It creates confusion for a few years but after that, a revamped product will probably end up helping Washington.

Jun 16, 2015; Ashburn, VA, USA; Washington Redskins quarterback

Robert Griffin

III (10) jokes with Redskins outside linebacker

Trent Murphy

(93) after day one of Redskins Minicamp at Redskins Park. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

DAN:

I think the ruling is huge for Washington and even bigger for the NFL. The National Football League is not going to allow one of its teams to operate without a registered trademark of its name and logo. When a brand is open to the public, crap hits the fan.

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You touched on some of the tame outcomes of the ruling. Guys like us can sell Redskins’ merchandise identical to the “real” things. The true outcome is the sale of derogatory shirts and slogans, or worse, that paint the Redskins and the NFL in a bad light. No one can stop a major international corporation from selling shirts that slam Washington. But don’t worry, the NFL won’t let this happen.

Dan Snyder might wish to ride out the storm, challenging folks to actually do something with his now unrestricted team name, but the NFL won’t allow it. The league likely won’t force Washington to do anything before week one. That’s less than two months away and all the season tickets, marketing brochures, and in stadium merchandise have already been printed. But I guarantee the team will have a new name by the start of the 2016 season.

Personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of teams changing names. I’ve also never had to endure such a tragedy as a fan myself. But in terms of the teams I remember, like the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA, it took less than a full season for me to ‘forget’ the old name and care less that it was ever changed. The same will be true in Washington.

The confusion will be minimal because the NFL is the king of marketing. They can praise the change as progressive, let Washington keep its colors, and simply go from “Redskins” to “Red Riders” or “Revolution” or “Monuments” or any number of patriotic American names that the entire country might actually want to root for. Make the name change in the same season that another franchise moves to Los Angeles, and it’s simply one large change to the league, instead of an isolated incident in Washington.

I love the NBA team name in Washington. The Wizards are just cool. But that got changed several years ago. It’s somehow a common thing in the nation’s capital, so I think the fans can handle it. Dan Snyder will cry his little eye’s out, but the NFL won’t care. He’ll fall in line just like Robert Kraft did after “Deflate Gate.”

Now, can we get a cool nickname for this much larger and more important issue? Racial-slur-gate doesn’t quite have the right ring to it. My vote is for Snyder-gate since Dan’s the man and he’s the only reason it wasn’t changed years ago.

Dan Salem is a Staff Writer for NFL Spinzone. He’s also Lead Editor, Staff Writer, and Featured Vlogger at BuzzChomp, and a New York Jets Analyst for Pro Football Spot. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or Instagram.

Todd Salem is a Staff Writer for NFL Spinzone. He’s also a Contributing Editor at BuzzChomp, a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report, and an Analyst for Tipster Labs, among others. Follow him on Twitter.

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