Washington Commanders

	Washington Commanders
	Established [[July 9, 1932; 92 years ago in sports\|July 9, 1932; 92 years ago]] ; Play in FedExField; Landover, Maryland ; Headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia
	Logo
	League/Conference affiliations
	National Football League (1932–present) Eastern Division (1933–1949); American Conference (1950–1952); Eastern Conference (1953–1969) Capitol Division (1967–1969); ; National Football Conference (1970–present) NFC East (1970–present); ;
	Team Details
Team colors	Burgundy, gold, black;
Fight song	"Hail to the Redskins" (1938–2019)
	Personnel
Owner	Josh Harris
General Manager	Martin Mayhew
Head Coach	Ron Rivera
	Team history
	Boston Braves (1932); Boston Redskins (1933–1936); Washington Redskins (1937–2019); Washington Football Team (2020–2021); Washington Commanders (2022–present);
	Team Nicknames
	* The Burgundy and Gold The 'Skins (as the Redskins); The Hogs (1980s offensive line);
	Championships
	League Championships (5) NFL championships (pre-1970 AFL–NFL merger) (2); 1937, 1942; Super Bowl Championships (3); 1982 (XVII), 1987 (XXII), 1991 (XXVI);
	Conference Championships (5) NFC: 1972, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1991;
	Division Championships (15) NFL Eastern: 1936, 1937, 1940, 1942, 1943, 1945; NFC East: 1972, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1999, 2012, 2015, 2020;
	Playoff Appearances (25)
	* NFL: 1936, 1937, 1940, 1942, 1943, 1945, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2012, 2015, 2020
	Home fields
	Braves Field (1932); Fenway Park (1933); Griffith Stadium (1937); Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium (1961); FedExField (1997–present);

The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington, D.C. area. The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland. The team's head office and training area are at Redskin Park in Ashburn, Virginia. They are part of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL).

The team began in Boston in 1932. They were first named for the Boston Braves baseball team. They were soon renamed the "Redskins." They kept that nickname after moving to Washington in the late 1930s. Native Americans and others said this word was insulting to Native Americans. There were protests and legal challenges, but the team kept the name for many years.

On June 18, 2014, the United States Patent Office decided that they were going to cancel the Redskins trademarks and called the name "disparaging to Native Americans."^[2]

In June 2020, 87 of the team's sponsors wrote a letter asking the team to change its name. PepsiCo, Nike, and FedEx were three of these sponsors. Together those three companies pay more than US$600 million to show their products and services next to the team. That summer, the team announced that there would be a review of the name.^[3]^[4] On July 13, 2020, the team officially retired the "Redskins" name, although they did not choose a new team name at that time.^[5] The team played the 2020 and 2021 seasons as the Washington Football Team.^[6]

The team hired John Wright to find a new name. He spoke to fans, former players, and some Native Americans. Fans liked the name "Red Wolves," but too many other teams already legally owned names and pictures that were like "Red Wolves." On February 2, 2022, Wright went on the Today Show. He said the new name would be "Washington Commanders" and showed everyone the new team uniforms.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Some Native American leaders, for example Fawn Sharp of the National Congress of American Indians, said the team also should have apologized for using the name for so long and making so much money with it. Others said it was a step in the right direction.^[8]

Washington Commanders Media

Washington commanders uniforms
George Preston Marshall founded the team in 1932 and managed it until stepping down in the mid-1960s for health reasons followed by his death in 1969.
A placard denouncing Marshall's integration of the Redskins, 1961
U.S. President Richard Nixon meeting with the team in 1971
The Redskins playing against the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VII
RFK Stadium served as the team's home from 1961 through 1996. It was frequently cited as having a strong home-field advantage.
Joe Theismann at Redskins training camp in 1983
Washington's three Vince Lombardi Trophies are located at the team's headquarters in Ashburn, Virginia
Daniel Snyder owned the team from 1999 until 2023.
Joe Gibbs is the most successful coach in franchise history.