NFL franchise in D.C. to be known as ‘Washington Football Team’ for 2020 season
LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. (BVM) — NFL fans anxiously waiting to see the renaming and rebranding of the NFL team that calls Washington D.C. home will have to wait another season. On July 23, the team announced it will call itself the “Washington Football Team” pending an adoption of a new name. This decision came following a thorough review of the team’s previous name and logo that began on July 3.
“The decision to use ‘Washington Football Team’ for this season allows the franchise the ability to undertake an in-depth branding process to properly include player, alumni, fan, community, and sponsor input,” a team press release said. “To date, we have been pleased to see so many people putting forward their vision of what the new name and design should be on their social media channels and we look forward to including their feedback as this process progresses.”
The press release also mentioned that the team’s previous name and logo would be officially retired prior to the 2020 NFL season. As of today, the previous name and logo is being used, but the team announced that starting July 24 and over the following 50 days they will begin the process of retiring all former name and logo branding from team properties whether at FedExField or other physical and digital spaces. The team hopes to complete this process in full by the team’s home opener against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 13.
The Washington Football Team announced it will keep its previous color scheme of burgundy and gold for the next season and released photos of their anticipated uniforms. The team will not have a logo on their helmets, instead replacing them with a yellow number of the player. It is not yet known if this color scheme would be changed when the team adopts a new name.
The team also released digital renderings of their new home and away uniforms being worn by some of their most prominent players. These renderings included Jonathan Allen, Landon Collins, Dwayne Haskins, Ryan Kerrigan, Daron Payne and Chase Young in their home and road jerseys. The team will debut their home uniforms Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles and their away uniforms in Week 2 against the Arizona Cardinals.
2020 👀 pic.twitter.com/bDFpbENl3T
— Chase Young (@youngchase907) July 23, 2020
The team also announced fans would be able to purchase “Washington Football Team” merchandise from Fanatics and NFL Shop in the coming days, according to the press release.
As of 3 p.m. on July 23, Washington Football Team was the No. 1 trending subject on Twitter with over 62,000 tweets. Reactions on social media ranged from positive endorsements from Washington team members and prominent celebrities to jokes made at the team’s expense.
Even though this name is clearly temporary, I appreciate the organization moving at an accelerated pace towards some progress prior to this @NFL season.
For the love of the game – I vote,
“WASHINGTON BALLERS”
You’re welcoooome!
*sang Maui style
😉💪🏾
https://t.co/6wpmDNAcgY— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) July 23, 2020
Though it remains to be seen what the new change will be, it is clear that the decision has gotten the attention of both football fans and non-football fans alike.
If the Washington Football Team was a shoe pic.twitter.com/84VqfppcqC
— 𝙅𝙖𝙝™ (@JahMakesMoves) July 23, 2020
