FedEx and Nike Protest for NFL Name Change

FedEx, a sponsor of the NFL’s Washington franchise, has demanded Redskins change the team name.

“We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name,” FedEx said in a statement Thursday.

The company has naming rights through 2025 to the stadium where the team plays in Prince George’s County, Maryland. While Dan Snyder owns the team, FedEx Chairman and CEO Frederick W. Smith is, as reported, a member of the team;s ownership group, and a financial sponsor. It would be like a label pulling from an artist unless they fulfill required demands.

The company paid the team $205 million in 1999 for the naming rights to FedEx Field in Landover. Debate continues over the name, and has been brewing for decades, and most recently has come back into focus as the nation grapples with race issues. Such symbolic gestures have gone all the way to reporters APA standards, where newspapers are now required to capitalize the B when reporting any likeness to Black culture.

Investors have been pressuring sponsors to break ties with the Washington team unless it changes its name.

Three separate letters signed by 87 investment firms and shareholders worth some $620 billion asked FedEx, Nike and Pepsi, to end their relationships with the team unless it agrees to change its name.This morning it was reported Nike has pulled all Washington merchandise, which is a major stream of income for them, in conjunction to corporate sponsorship, like FedEx.

Until now, the team said it had “no comment at this time.”

Snyder told USA today in 2013 that, “We will never change the name of the team.”

Written by: John Hurtado