Redskins owner cowboys - opens for change of name

In a statement published Friday night, the US NFL team states that they will "undergo a thorough investigation of the name".

"This allows us not only to weigh in on the team's proud tradition and history, but also the views of the organization, the national football league and the local people that we are proud to represent on and off the pitch," says Daniel Snyder.

On Thursday, the courier company Fedex went out with a new call to Daniel Snyder. "We have notified the team in Washington of our request to change their name," one statement said.

That this particular company acts is significant, as it sponsors the team's arena, Fedex Field, and according to the news agency AFP paid $ 205 million (almost SEK 2 billion) for the arena to be named just until 2026.

Fedex's statement comes the day after the magazine Adweek wrote that 87 investment companies in a letter urged Fedex, Pepsi and Nike to cancel their partnerships with the club. Otherwise, they are withdrawing their investments - about $ 620 billion - into the companies.

On Wednesday, three politicians in the US House of Representatives also announced that Snyder could, without a change of name, forget about putting the gloves on the spot where the team's previous arena, RFK Stadium, is located - something the owner has plans for when he wants to build a new home plan for the team.

- I again urge Dan Snyder to realize what reality looks like, because he so desperately wants a team in the nation's capital. He has a problem he does not get around - and especially not now after George Floyd's death, Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents Washington in the House of Representatives without voting rights, told the Washington Post.

She and the other politicians have an ace in their sleeve. In order for Snyder to be able to buy the land, a new law has to be approved, and that doesn't allow the Democrats as long as the Redskins are named just that.

- It's time now. There is not a single way to justify the name. Either you go into this century or you don't. It's up to the owner, says Democrat Raúl M Grijalva.

In 2014, a number of newspapers in the United States stopped using the name Redskins, on the grounds that it is a derogatory word. Snyder then said that the name is a tribute to the country's indigenous people.

The team began using the name Redskins in 1933 (which can be translated by the derogatory "redskins"), when the team was based in Boston. Former owner George Preston Marshall moved the team to the capital in 1937. A statue of him, standing outside RFK Stadium, was removed in June this year following major protests against the team.

Under Marshall's leadership, the Redskins were the last team in the NFL to start having black players, which happened only in 1962.

The protests against the team gained momentum during the demonstrations against racism and police violence that began after George Floyd was killed in connection with a Minneapolis police raid in May.