Washington Redskins Owner Dan Snyder Insists He Will “Never” Change the Team’s Name

Looks like the Redskins will remain the Redskins as long as Dan Snyder has his way.
He told
USA Today Friday morning that he would “never” change the name of his NFL team.

“It’s that simple. NEVER—you can use caps,” Snyder told the publication.

The development comes amid continued criticism that
the moniker is a racial slur against
Native Americans. Just last week, at-large DC Council member
David Grosso, an Independent,
introduced a non-binding
resolution

calling on Snyder to drop the team’s name, which Grosso
described as “historically
racist and derogatory.”

Grosso suggested that Snyder change the team’s name to the Washington Redtails, a
reference to the famous World War II-era African-American pilots known as the Tuskegee
Airmen.

In the
USA Today story, Snyder offered a firm response to critics of the team’s name:

“We will never change the name of the team. . . . As a lifelong Redskins fan, and
I think that the Redskins fans understand the great tradition and what it’s all about
and what it means, so we feel pretty fortunate to be just working on next season.”

Luke Mullins

Senior Writer

Luke Mullins is a senior writer at Washingtonian magazine focusing on the people and institutions that control the city’s levers of power. He has written about the Koch Brothers’ attempt to take over The Cato Institute, David Gregory’s ouster as moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, the collapse of Washington’s Metro system, and the conflict that split apart the founders of Politico.