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Washington Football Team: Tanya Snyder interview proves nickname search shouldn’t be publicized

By Jerry Trotta

ASHBURN, VA - JANUARY 8: Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder and his wife, Tanya, listen as Joe Gibbs addresses the media as Gibbs was announced as the new head coach of the Washington Redskins at a media conference on January 8, 2004 at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Virginia. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
ASHBURN, VA - JANUARY 8: Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder and his wife, Tanya, listen as Joe Gibbs addresses the media as Gibbs was announced as the new head coach of the Washington Redskins at a media conference on January 8, 2004 at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Virginia. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) /
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The Washington fan base has been divided ever since the franchise deleted its previously controversial nickname.

A large population of fans were frustrated with the move altogether, while others (also disappointed) wanted to completely move on and announce the new nickname immediately after the rebrand became official.

In hindsight, sticking with the Washington Football Team for 2020 and presumably all of this season is the right call. What we can do without, however, is the constant reveal of finalists from the organizations’ braintrust.

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Just last month, president Jason Wright and head coach Ron Rivera, and GM Martin Mayhew revealed during the latest episode of “Making the Brand,” that they’ve narrowed down the list of possibilities to three finalists.

Well, we have another update, folks. And you know what? It revealed what we already knew, except with added confusion.

The Washington Football Team should stop teasing their fans by revealing the finalists for their new nickname.

We understand the thinking behind building up suspense for the big reveal, but this only antagonizing an already-disgruntled fan base. Our advice? Just avoid talking about the new nickname until the big reveal next year. The fan base isn’t going to be happy (at least collectively) regardless of what gets chosen.

In Tanya Snyder’s defense, the framing of Adam Schefter’s question seemed to catch her off-guard, so don’t think we’re pinning all of this on her. It’s not like Washington’s co-CEO went out of her way to rattle off the finalists. She was very much backed into a corner and essentially confirmed what was (mostly) already public knowledge.

This is more of a long-standing organizational failure to read the room and understand how fans are feeling. Fans don’t want teasers and promos. They want the official new name to be announced, whenever that may be.

Rip that band-aid off! The slow burn is never a good idea.

In all seriousness, though, credit to Snyder for giving her first interview since she was named co-CEO of the franchise.

We know this isn’t her comfort zone, so she really deserves a round of applause for getting behind the mic and making her voice heard on important topics, specifically the “toxic” work culture associated with the organization.

Anyway, enough about the interview. Washington plays meaningful football in just a few days, so we’re going to focus all of our energy on that. This nickname madness isn’t worth ruining the build-up to Sunday’s kickoff.

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