Washington Commanders Are Now Attempting to Cash In on 'Redskins' Name and Logo
The Washington Commanders are selling merchandise emblazoned with their popular old moniker.
Naturally, this has fans in the nation’s capital wondering if the Commanders are considering a return to their old “Redskins” team name, which they used until 2020.
Alas, much to the disappointment of Redskins truthers, it appears this may be more of a savvy legal move than anything portending a bold rebrand.
A brief bit of history: The Redskins organization was founded in 1933 (when the team was still in Boston — it wouldn’t relocate to Washington, D.C., until 1937). And yes, it has roots in Native American culture. The Redskins moniker was actually created by Native Americans.
But over the years, more and more people labeled the “Redskins” team moniker as something of a racial slur.
While the team long resisted those calls, it eventually relented to the activist pressure accusing the franchise of open bigotry.
(And, to be clear, not all Native Americans take offense to the Redskins moniker. Some have even fought to change it back.)
Since that 2020 name change, a cloud of controversy has hung over the franchise.
Many people, from former coaches to even the president of the United States, have pushed for the Commanders to return to their Redskins roots.
While the franchise has largely balked at such requests, it has also been dropping little bread crumbs for the Redskins truthers.
Well, according to WUSA-TV reporter Eric Flack, the Commanders have dropped the biggest bread crumb possible: Officially licensed NFL merchandise featuring the “Redskins” moniker.
NEW: Commanders selling merch with the retired Redskins name and logo — and team says the reason is trademark law.
“We are required to maintain the marks in commercial usage so that marks remain under franchise control.”
But position on returning to old name hasn’t changed. pic.twitter.com/c6ZyGENrbV
— Eric Flack (@EricFlackTV) August 25, 2026
Merchandise with both the team’s old logo and old moniker is currently being sold at the Commanders team store.
Importantly, however, this does not mean that there’s much of a shot for the Commanders to ever become the Redskins again.
Flack said team officials confirmed with him that they are “required to maintain the marks in commercial usage so that marks remain under franchise control.”
In other words, Washington officials appear to be under the impression that if they don’t use the trademark, they could lose it — leading to anyone, for example, being able to print and sell “Redskins” shirts.
It’s not clear that’s exactly how trademark law works (according to NBC Sports, it does appear possible to shelve a trademark indefinitely), but Commanders officials clearly believe that they can lose rights to Redskins should they stop producing periodic merchandise.
Interestingly, all of the Redskins merchandise on the online team store lists it as Commanders merchandise, despite the latter nickname not appearing anywhere on some of the merchandise, according to Fox News, further giving oxygen to the theory that this is merely a tactical legal play, and not “testing the waters” for a potential Redskins return.
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