As the nationwide debate about the Washington Redskins’ name rages on, outspoken team owner Daniel Snyder is making his voice heard loud and clear on the subject.
While speaking with USA Today this week, Snyder said that – despite the outcry against the name for being offensive to Native Americans – it will remain the Redskins as long as he is running the franchise.
“We will never change the name of the team,” Snyder said. “As a lifelong Redskins fan, and I think that the Redskins fans understand the great tradition and what it’s all about and what it means, so we feel pretty fortunate to be just working on next season.”
Of course, it’s possible that Snyder might not have the last say in the matter. Supporters of a name change have recently launched a legal case with the hope to deny the Redskins federal trademark protection. There’s also a bill currently in front of Congress designed to do the same, though it’s considered unlikely to pass.
However, even with these challenges, Snyder is confident the name will remain.
“We’ll never change the name,” Snyder said. “It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.”
A recent poll showed that the supporters of a name change are only the most vocal, and do not represent the national majority. In fact, only 11 percent said it should be changed, while 8 percent weren’t sure and 2 percent didn’t answer.
Now, we want to hear what you think. What do you want to see happen with the Redskins name?