The Commanders might not go back to their prior name. That doesn’t mean they’ll be keeping their current name.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday night, Marjorie Harris (wife of majority owner Josh Harris) was asked about the name issue.
“As you would imagine, everybody has an opinion about the name,” Harris said, via JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington. “Some good, some bad, some in the middle. And I think that we have a lot of work to do and so that name issue is going to be on the side for now until we can get things going. And I mean quite frankly I had a whole day out in the community and I kept referring to the team as the Commanders and — you know what? — sound pretty good to me. So, for now, it’s the Commanders.”
For starters, why wouldn’t she be referring to the team as the Commanders? What else would she call them? That football team we own with a name I don’t really like?
Second, the bigger message is that the door hasn’t closed on changing the name, again. The team insists that the abandoned name isn’t coming back. At times, however, it feels like trial balloons are being floated.
This could be an indirect opening for the large swath of the fanbase that wants the former name (not Washington Football Club) to agitate for such a change. If that was her goal, it was far more adroit that blurting out the former name repeatedly and/or wearing unlicensed gear with a portion of the abandoned logo.
To summarize, at some point they’ll turn their attention to the name. Even if the old name doesn’t return, the current name might not be the long-term answer. And with the current name in doubt, proponents for the abandoned name will believe there’s an opening for making enough noise to get them to bring it back.