Breaking down the situation surrounding the Redskins name

It’s been a subplot this offseason ever since the social climate in the United States took a major turn, but no one expected things to progress this quickly, on account of the Redskins name.

When Washington Redskins head coach Ron Rivera spoke about social injustice, and when the team removed the name of George Preston Marshall from their Ring of Honor, the name was always in peripheral view. It wasn’t the focus; not yet. But one could tell the natural progression seemed to be inching closer to the team’s mascot.

Now, the natural progression has proven that intuition to be correct. Yesterday, FedEx, Washington’s stadium sponsor and one of the team’s closest business partners, announced that they had asked the Redskins to change their name, otherwise faced with the risk of separation and monetary loss.

There have been flareups before in the name debate, but for the first time in a long time, this feels real. It feels like there is legitimate movement, and it finally feels as though the pressure is starting to mount for Dan Snyder. What more can we expect from here, and when might it be too much for the team’s owner?

We’ll get back to our regularly scheduled football content soon enough. But for now, there are more pressing matters we need to address.