3 goals Washington Commanders’ new ownership must accomplish

3. Rebrand the team

This might not be the most important aspect of the team’s on-field success or financial success, but rebranding the Washington Commanders is important for the fanbase. If Harris wants to make his mark on the franchise and bring back fans, giving the team a name that fans like is important.

Let’s be clear, it’s pretty much impossible for the Redskins nickname to return so don’t get your hopes up for that. That being written, Harris should consider alternatives to the Commanders which hasn’t stuck with the fanbase.

Prior to the club settling on the Commanders, there were seven other nicknames that were finalists for the name change.

• Armada
• Presidents
• Brigade
• Red Hogs
• Red Wolves
• Defenders
• Washington Football Team

Let’s go ahead a cross off Armada, Presidents, and Brigade as they are all too closely related to the Commanders. Red Hogs, Defenders, and Washington Football Team all have previous history connecting to D.C. in one way or another. Those three are okay/solid options, but not my personal favorite.

The Red Wolves were my preference during the naming process and the following excuse released by the team never sat well with me.

"“First, and I’ll cut to the chase here, we can confirm that, after careful consideration, our team name will not be Wolves or RedWolves. One of the most awesome and powerful aspects of this process has been getting to hear and understand your preferences directly, and we know that many of you loved one or both of these names. And because of that, we want to share some context behind our decision not to move forward with these names. You all deserve nothing less. Early on we understood Wolves — or some variation of it — was one of our fan favorites. As I’ve said all along, we take feedback from our fans seriously, and because of your interest in this name, we put Wolves on a list of options to explore fully. Once we began looking into Wolves, however, 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 for these and other reasons.”"

Unlike Snyder who was on a time crunch, Harris won’t be rushed to change the name and can get through those hurdles that the previous regime didn’t want to deal with. My belief is that Washington Red Wolves would be the best name for the franchise in the future.

Even if it’s not one of the names previously listed, like Warriors, Red Tails, or any other possibility, Harris won’t be in a rush to change the name choose a name that the majority of the fanbase can get behind.

Agree with this list of goals for Harris and the new ownership group of the Washington Commanders? Comment your thoughts below.