Washington Commanders

	Washington Commanders
	Established [[July 9, 1932; 93 years ago in sports\|July 9, 1932; 93 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	Adam Peters
Head Coach	Dan Quinn
	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 2024–present
Team founder George Preston Marshall with head coach Ray Flaherty, 1937
Marshall talking to players Wayne Millner, Charlie Malone, Vic Carroll, Bill Young, Ed Michaels, and Jim Garber in 1937, their first season in Washington, D.C.
1961 placard denouncing Marshall's integration of black players
U.S. president Richard Nixon meeting with the team, 1971
Head coach Joe Gibbs won Super Bowls in 1982, 1987, and 1991. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996.
Quarterback Joe Theismann won the 1983 NFL MVP award
Washington's three Vince Lombardi Trophies at the team's Ashburn, Virginia, headquarters
Daniel Snyder, the team's owner from 1999 until 2023, is considered to be one of the worst owners in the history of professional sports.
Sean Taylor, the team's first-round draft choice in 2004, died after being shot by home invaders in 2007. His jersey number 21 was later retired by the team.