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Money talk? Redskins sponsor FedEx requests name change, Nike pulls merch after Wall Street nudging
The Washington Redskins’ lead sponsor, FedEx, has apparently caved to corporate pressure, asking the football team to change its name after a group of investment firms and shareholders urged major funders to sever ties.
FedEx, which holds rights to the team’s stadium, formally requested the Redskins to ditch their name on Thursday, days after a group of 87 investment firms and shareholders, collectively worth some $620 billion, implored FedEx and two other major NFL sponsors – Nike and PepsiCo – to cut ties with the team unless it takes on a less “offensive” name.
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In a short statement, reported by NBC Sports’ J.P. Finlay, FedEx said that they “have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name.”
The request appears to be a thinly-veiled ultimatum, considering that FedEx President and CEO Frederick Smith is a minority owner of the team, in addition to the company being the most prominent sponsor of the Redskins.
Around the same time FedEx’s statement began making the rounds, Nike reportedly stopped selling Redskins merchandise on its website.
It appears that Nike has removed all Redskins clothing from their website. If you go to Nike’s website, they have apparel for all the NFL teams currently ; except for Washington.
— Jordan (@redskinstoday_) July 3, 2020
A word search for ‘redskins’ on Nike's website returned no results as of Thursday evening, while apparel emblazoned with emblems of all other NFL teams remain on site.
Twitter was immediately swamped with suggestions as to how the team should rebrand itself.
My vote:1) Washington Redtails (keeps httr)2) Washington Redhawks (keeps httr)3) Washington Defenders 4) Washington Sentinels 5) Washington Warriors https://t.co/QDdbz40MzX
— Cameron Magruder (@ScooterMagruder) July 2, 2020
Among the more popular suggestions has been the “Washington Redtails,” intended as a homage to the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black military aviators of the Army Air Corps who went by the same nickname.
If Washington owner Dan Snyder ever gets his head out of his ass, I hope they change the team name to Redtails. Redtails was the nickname coined for the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American military aviators in the United States Armed Forces. pic.twitter.com/5cP1yTVxkO
— Sox
