Washington NFL Franchise Retires Name and Logo

[_DietDrPepper_]

4 hours ago, DNAsports said:

I wouldn’t mind this Texas State helmet for Washington-

 

Yes including the white facemask and chrome gold.

I'll agree that maroon and metallic gold is an underrated color scheme and has potential, but I'd be really afraid of leaning too far into Niners territory. I think the athletic gold is better anyway though. 

[Survival79]

President's Weekly Brief: Let's Talk About The Name

Oct 27, 2020 at 09:44 AM
Jason Wright
Team President

 

Business Question Of The Week

 

So are we really going to have to wait until after 2021 for a new name? Are you an idiot, it's not that hard!

 

So let's get the obvious out of the way: you may have noticed some news circulating around about the search for a new name, and wow, there was a lot of reaction to my casual, off-the-cuff mention that we could still have the "Washington Football Team" name into the 2021 season. If I'm anything, I'm transparent, and I now know that I should never, ever deviate from talking points because I'll say too damn much.

 

What last week showed me is that a portion of our fanbase is eager for a name (you all have filled up my mentions, but that's okay, because we invite that input!) Here are some of the reason I've heard on why this set of fans is so passionately vocal:

 

1. You don't like being referred to as "Football Team" in games. Some of you think it is clunky and awkward and when pundits tease, it pisses you off. I hear you.

 

2. We need something to give our organization a jumpstart. The team is in a rebuilding process, and a new name and identity would be galvanizing and exciting for the fans.

 

3. It's not that hard to pick a name. This is centered on a belief that the work has already been done for us and that we should just pick one. There are some who believe not picking a name show incompetence, which is disheartening for folks.

 

Before I was hired, the organization announced there would be an 18-24 month process to establish a new brand. And once I joined, I had talked about this being a longer process to ensure substantive engagement with communities. But what I realize is that we need to say that a lot more often, and that you also need to hear the reasoning behind that process.

 

Folks tend to love or hate the "Football Team" component of our current moniker. Either way, I think we can continue to educate and push broadcasters and others to refer to us as "Washington," because it flows easier during the play-by-play and reminds us all that we still represent this great area.

 

In terms of giving the organization a jumpstart, I would argue we can rally around the fact that we are still Washington, and we are witnessing Coach Rivera establish a new culture. On the business side, we have new ways of engaging the public (this blog!), new content from our media teams, etc., so our communication should feel different than it did in the past. We hope it feels like a more open and transparent way engage you. Right now, the jumpstart is in these things and we can embrace that.

 

You, our fanbase, are our top priority, and I understand the push by some to quickly pick a name, I say to you, "We owe it to this fan base and this franchise to do the hard work!" There's a lot of business-y jargon I could throw at you about market analyses and legal hurdles, but that's not what is important. What it really comes down to is including all of our fanbase -- past, present, and future -- in this process. There are a certain percentage of our fans who are very active online, and we hear you loud and clear (Insert fight song remixes and other exuberances here). There's also a large group of our fans who don't regularly participate in our social and digital channels; we need to hear from them, too. So while online polls are an input that we'll use, they're just a small piece of the total picture.

 

We need to understand why they are important to fans. Are we a deeply environmentally conscious fan base? Are we longing for a simple chant or sound to unify the stadium and make us feel like one? Is preserving "HTTR" as an acronym critically important to connect to our past?

 

Understanding these things will help us make the best decisions, not just on the name, but also how we design everything around the name from the logo to the fan experience to our charitable portfolio. We are not moving slowly but taking the time to really know you. It's also important to seek out and understand the new fans who we can attract and can bring to the Washington Football household via a new brand.

 

At our current pace, we hope to have chosen a new name by the middle of next year. While we won't be able to reveal that immediately, choosing the name is just part of the process. For example, let's say we reveal our new name at some point before the beginning of the 2021 season without going through all the detailed design work of a new logo, creating merchandise, and clearing the legal hurdles to secure it all. Not only would that make for a trademarking headache, but it would also be an embarrassing and chaotic launch to what should be a proud and poignant moment for the franchise. And if I've heard one thing consistently from you, it's that you want a professionalized organization, not prone to knee-jerk reactions and making smart business decisions.

 

So we'll move very quickly, and in the meantime, I'll point you to washingtonjourney.com to make your voice heard. However, we are committed to engaging with you beyond online polls through various means (i.e., virtual focus groups) in the months to come. Just like PFTCommenter gave his pitch when I was on his show, many of you will get to "shoot your shot," too. In preparation for those interactions, there are already several milestones we have reached. We have started putting teams together that are doing market research on our new identity. We are starting to get insightful data that is helping us understand our fans more deeply.

 

We are off to a good start, but finding a new identity is typically a long process. The Seattle Kraken (super dope name in my opinion!) took four years to launch their brand. It was a two-year process for the Los Angeles Rams to change their logo. We are moving at a quicker pace because we know you want this completed and we do, too. But, at the same time, we want to do right by you, and that does take time.

 

So yes, we could possibly remain the Washington Football Team in 2021, but I hope you now understand a bit of the "why." I know being patient is not easy, but I promise you this: you won't have to go another season with uncertainty beyond 2021, and if you commit to participating in the journey in the coming months, our identity will be one that we can proudly say is ours.

[The_Admiral]

drivel

[JayMac]

14 hours ago, the admiral said:

drivel

But he managed to say "super" and "dope" consecutively in a sentence! 

[DCarp1231]

Minnesota needs to set their helmet for Wumbo and you have yourself a decent gold Washington helmet

[PERRIN]

6 minutes ago, DNAsports said:

Minnesota needs to set their helmet for Wumbo and you have yourself a decent gold Washington helmet

you've earned yourself a like solely for your impeccable use of the word wumbo

 

Jokes aside, I agree, though a burgundy heavy logo and facemask would look better for the WFT.

[flyersfan]

A Washington post, but void of name suggestions:

 

I think I have a thing for teams using yellow (or athletic gold) in their identities. I think its a great way to keep color in secondary colors, and it tends to look really nice on a football uniform (Packers, Steelers, Rams Throwback), and clashes very well against almost every other color. But it can look bad if used too much (Rams color rush, West Virginia yellow sets). I think Washington needs to resist the urge to put on white, and follow a more (referencing just the pictures in the spoiler and not their gimmicks) Arizona State path with their set. A home set of Gold-Burgundy-Gold, and away of Gold-White-Burgundy, with alternates being Gold-Burgundy-Burgundy & Gold-White-Gold, would give a great looking set. I don't like the emphasis on white, if white isn't a primary color of the team. I love when the colts go White-White-White, but I don't like it when the Jaguars do it!

 

Their Burgundy is a unique color to the league, they should embrace that, and gold is a much better secondary identifier than the white. The Chiefs and Cardinals are already primarily Red & White teams. You're in a division with Green-White-Black, Blue-White, and White-Blue-Silver. A burgundy heavy set clashes really well in division games.

Spoiler

 

 

 

[DCarp1231]

I’ve thought about this for a bit now, I’d be totally fine with Washington having a helmet that features a logo on one side and the player’s number on the other. We already have a team (LAC) with numbers and logos in both sides & a team (PIT) with a logo on one side and nothing on the other. Why not just meet in the middle?

[Gothamite]

Because it would look bad?

[Old School Fool]

I like when Boise State does it.

 

[DCarp1231]

1 hour ago, Gothamite said:

Because it would look bad?

 

I think with the fact that Washington is getting an entirely new identity, risks should be taken. The helmet idea is probably the safest of risks too. They just shouldn’t take too many risks and end up like Atlanta or the previous Tampa Bay set.

[Gothamite]

Like a lot of things Boise State does, it should be left in the minor leagues of college.  Not the pros. 

[JustForFun]

29 minutes ago, DNAsports said:

The helmet idea is probably the safest of risks too. 

"Safe" like a helmet that's half gold and half black, right?

 

I will never understand why people want pro football to look like college football. And frankly, even a college helmet with a logo on one side and a number on the other looks unbalanced and foolish. What's the point of a number on a helmet that can only be seen from one side? 

 

It's the typical college aesthetic of "let's just add everything to our uniform we can think of." Bad enough there, but pro uniforms are supposed to look professional.

[Sec19Row53]

2 minutes ago, JustForFun said:

"Safe" like a helmet that's half gold and half black, right?

 

I will never understand why people want pro football to look like college football. And frankly, even a college helmet with a logo on one side and a number on the other looks unbalanced and foolish. What's the point of a number on a helmet that can only be seen from one side? 

 

It's the typical college aesthetic of "let's just add everything to our uniform we can think of." Bad enough there, but pro uniforms are supposed to look professional.

Quoting this because I can't like each of your three paragraphs individually, but I want to.

[DCarp1231]

1 hour ago, JustForFun said:

"Safe" like a helmet that's half gold and half black, right?

 

I will never understand why people want pro football to look like college football. And frankly, even a college helmet with a logo on one side and a number on the other looks unbalanced and foolish. What's the point of a number on a helmet that can only be seen from one side? 

 

It's the typical college aesthetic of "let's just add everything to our uniform we can think of." Bad enough there, but pro uniforms are supposed to look professional.

I never said I wanted pro football to look like college football. I just said Washington should be a team that takes certain safe risks with a new identity. What’s wrong with Washington electing to be neotraditional with their uniforms?

 

If you think there’s no point in a number only being visible from one side of the helmet, surely you also think the same about teams like Pittsburgh who have a helmet logo only visible from one side?

[sky1324]

54 minutes ago, DNAsports said:

I never said I wanted pro football to look like college football. I just said Washington should be a team that takes certain safe risks with a new identity. What’s wrong with Washington electing to be neotraditional with their uniforms?

 

If you think there’s no point in a number only being visible from one side of the helmet, surely you also think the same about teams like Pittsburgh who have a helmet logo only visible from one side?

You're right, there's no reason for Pittsburgh to do that and they should add the logo to the other side of the helmet. Alternating logo and numbers on a helmet isn't "neotraditonal", it's stupid. A safe risk would be something like a new striping pattern or perhaps a new color helmet. Doing something so amateur would reflect very poorly on a franchise that likes to remind people that they're old, given the year in the primary logo.

[JustForFun]

55 minutes ago, DNAsports said:

surely you also think the same about teams like Pittsburgh who have a helmet logo only visible from one side?

Numbers are functional. Logos are not. If Pittsburgh did that with numbers, I'd agree with you. But they don't.

[DCarp1231]

3 minutes ago, JustForFun said:

Numbers are functional. Logos are not. If Pittsburgh did that with numbers, I'd agree with you. But they don't.

Numbers and logos both effectively serve the same purpose. As identifiers.

[JustForFun]

4 minutes ago, DNAsports said:

Numbers and logos both effectively serve the same purpose. As identifiers.

They really don't.

 

But even if you're right, I'm just going to say Pittsburgh gets a pass anyway. They've been doing it forever. For Football Team to start doing something like that now just seems gimmicky and clueless, like they're trying too hard to create something timeless. Timeless uniforms like Pittsburgh's are timeless because they've stood the test of time, and most people agree they're classic. You cannot create a timeless uniform. They get to be that way from years of consistency and general agreement that they're great.

[DCarp1231]

3 minutes ago, JustForFun said:

They really don't.

 

But even if you're right, I'm just going to say Pittsburgh gets a pass anyway. They've been doing it forever. For Football Team to start doing something like that now just seems gimmicky and clueless, like they're trying too hard to create something timeless. Timeless uniforms like Pittsburgh's are timeless because they've stood the test of time, and most people agree they're classic. You cannot create a timeless uniform. They get to be that way from years of consistency and general agreement that they're great.

I mean, you gotta start somewhere if you want something to be timeless.

 

Look, I’m almost positive Washington won’t take the risk I’m suggesting and I’m completely cool with that. I love simple and I love traditional. The point was I wouldn’t mind a little bit of risk taking with a new identity.