The Daniel Snyder era is over in Washington DC with new ownership headed by Josh Harris set to take over the franchise before the beginning of next season. This is a breath of fresh air for most Washington Commanders fans as it’s not going to be hard for Harris and company to be better stewards of the franchise.
That being said, it’s not like this new group of owners will be coming into a well-run organization and as such they will need to look at what potential changes need to be made. There are at least three goals that this new ownership group needs to accomplish moving forward to help turn things around.
3 goals for Washington Commanders’ new ownership to accomplish
1. Evaluation of front office and coaching staff
Almost every new owner of any professional sports team will take the time to see if the current regime of the front office and coaching staff will be a fit in the vision of what they have for the club. Harris will be no exception to this line of thought.
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Harris’ history of when he bought the Philadelphia 76ers should help Commanders fans have an idea of what to potentially expect from the club’s new owner. Harris bought the Sixers in the summer of 2011 but didn’t make changes to the front office till 2012 and head coaching position till 2013.
With that in mind, fans shouldn’t expect Harris to change regimes in either the front office or coaching staff in the immediate future. However, it’s not impossible either. When Harris took over the 76ers, they were a franchise in no-man land and that’s pretty much the state of the Commanders as well.
Harris changed that by investing in the infamous rebuilding/tank job in Philly dubbed “The Process”. That’s probably not going to happen in the nation’s capital, however, dramatic change is an option that Harris has done in the past.
2. Find a new stadium
Any fan that has been to FedEx Field in the past 15 years, knows the stadium has been in terrible shape. It doesn’t help that the lease for the Commanders ends in 2026, which isn’t too far away and there doesn’t seem to be a solution in sight.
It appears that locations in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia are all options. With the team being named Washington, it would make sense if they could return home to their old location in DC. That being written, according to Seth Wickersham and John Keim of ESPN, the team believes that building a new stadium in Virginia has the most positives of the possible locations.
However, there will be several hurdles that will need to be cleared before settling on a location. The good news is that according to John Keim of ESPN, the Commanders have around cleared the biggest with Snyder heading out the door.
It appeared that most locations didn’t want to deal with the disgraced former owner of the franchise. A new location needs to be decided upon rather quickly because time is running out and this might be the most immediate goal the franchise needs to address.
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.