The Washington Redskins are facing intense pressure once again about their nickname, but this time the pressure is coming from investors, according to Adweek.
According to the report, Nike, PepsiCo and FedEx (who owns the naming rights to the Redskins home stadium) each received letters signed by 87 investment firms and shareholders worth a combined $620 billion asking the companies too ever ties with the Redskins unless they change their controversial name.
The Redskins have contributed to some of that change, removing the name of former owner George Preston Marshall from their ring of fame. Marshall was the last NFL owner to integrate his roster, and did so only under pressure from the government to avoid losing a 30-year lease on federal land.
But Native American leaders want owner Dan Snyder to change the name, which the franchise has used since 1933. In the past, groups protested the name and tried to win in court. Those efforts failed. Now investors are appealing to the sponsors, something that one former high-ranking Redskins employee called “different.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser recently said on The Team 980 that it was “past time for the team to deal with [a name that] offends so many people.”
Snyder has been adamant that he won’t change the name. He once told ESPN that “the name really means honor, respect. We sing, ‘Hail to the Redskins.’ We don’t say hurt anybody. We say, ‘Hail to the Redskins. Braves on the warpath. Fight for old D.C.'”
