Latest news with #DanSnyder
Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Bring back the Redskins! Donald Trump claims Washington's NFL team should NEVER have scrapped 'offensive' former name
Donald Trump wants to bring back the Washington Redskins, the 'offensive' team name that was scrapped by the American capital city's NFL franchise in 2020. Trump was in the White House when the Redskins name was originally changed, on the back's of the George Floyd protests during the final summer of his first term in the Oval Office. Former owner Dan Snyder was forced to make the change, originally to the Washington Football Team for two seasons, when sponsors like Nike and Amazon threatened to boycott the team without a switch. In 2022, the team was re-branded as the Washington Commanders, with the fan base unhappy with the final result of the new moniker for years. Now, Trump, who has a checkered history with the NFL, has weighed in on the gridiron franchise's new name, with it playing home games less than 15 miles from the White House. 'Well, you want me to make a controversial statement? I would,' Trump said when asked if the Commanders should change their name back to the Redskins. 'I wouldn't have changed the name.' Trump says the Washington Commanders NFL team should change their name back to the Redskins. — Clips (@disclosetvclips) July 6, 2025 'It doesn't have the same ring to me. Winning can make everything sound good. So if they win, all of the sudden, the Commanders sounds good. But I wouldn't have changed the name.' In 2016, the Washington Post found that only one in every 10 Native Americans were offended by the Redskins' moniker. In recent months, the team has attempted to combine the old and the new, including a logo of a Commanders-style W with a feather coming out from it, part of the iconic Redskins design. Trump's claim about winning is a decent shout, as no Commanders fan was unhappy to embrace the team's best season in 30 years in 2024. Washington made the NFC Championship Game with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels before falling to eventual Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles. Expectations are as high for the Washington football franchise heading into a season as they have been since George H.W. Bush was in the Oval Office, six Presidential administrations ago. Other teams in professional sports have stayed tied to their Native American-adjacent nicknames, including the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Braves. The Cleveland Guardians rose from being the Cleveland Indians, in a move that was much more popular out of the gate in Ohio than the two changes in Washington. Trump was asked back in April, as the franchise negotiated a stadium deal to play home games once again within the District of Columbia, if a name change would be tied with any contract. 'Now Washington, the Redskins, perhaps that's a little different, a little different,' he said. 'I think it's a superior name to what they have right now,' he also volunteered. He added that, 'we're about bringing common sense back to this country.' Following Snyder's sale of the franchise to Josh Harris, fans have lobbied the new owner to revert to the old name. Additionally, the Native American Guardians Association - an organization which vocally opposes the removal of Native American mascots - launched a petition to bring the name back. After Trump was re-elected, many fans hoped that he could somehow force the team or the NFL to bring the 'Redskins' name back. However, as both the NFL and the Commanders are private businesses, Trump has no authority to force a name change.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Which historic uniforms will Commanders wear in 2025?
The Commanders broke news Wednesday afternoon that new alternate uniforms are coming soon. That's right, on July 9, the Commanders will unveil their new alternate uniforms. The alternate uniforms themselves have been a controversial topic for the fan base, and rightly so. After all, the franchise colors are historically burgundy and gold, and yet, in 2022, Dan Snyder and Jason Wright determined that not only would the team's new name be "Commanders," but there would also be no longer be any historic throwback uniforms. Advertisement Wright actually broadcast that the fan base had expressed "Commanders" as one of their preferred choices on February 2 on the "Today Show," when he stated that the new name "broadly resonated with our fans." It did? Did they ever provide any actual proof of this? The former owner and former team president had determined that there would be no historic throwback uniforms. Instead, as a means of moving forward and attempting to dismiss the past, the "throwbacks" gave way to "alternates." No longer would there be burgundy and gold throwback uniforms from the days of Sammy Baugh or Sonny Jurgensen. No, the franchise was progressive, moving forward. They would wear black and gold uniforms instead. It was a new era, a new name, a new "alternate uniform." Advertisement The Josh Harris ownership group will reveal next Wednesday that they are going back to historic throwbacks, featuring actual burgundy and gold uniforms, you know, the team's original colors. Or are they? The actual release did not describe the uniforms as "throwbacks," but rather as "alternates." Which helmet will they use? Unfortunately, the Commanders' release on X (formerly Twitter) intentionally displays a "W" on the helmet. Is this their way of not getting our hopes up, so that we won't be too upset when the helmet is actually not a throwback? In a sense, perhaps the "W" in the current logo speaks to the uniforms being alternates rather than throwbacks? Advertisement On the other hand, there are NFL teams that use an entire throwback uniform, including the helmet. So, why not go ahead and embrace the past prior to the Dan Snyder years? If only a few games each season, enjoy a historic look, and have some fun with it. Whatever uniforms the Harris group chooses, they will at least include the team colors and franchise history. Most importantly, the team is winning again. So perhaps the "W" will cause fans to think more of Washington and winning. Here are some options that would be fun, dating back to helmets, which I recall from my first Redskins memories in the 1969 season. Will next week's reveal resemble any of these uniform combinations shown above? It sure sounds like it will. The Commanders have multiple options with the "throwback" or "alternate" helmet. This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: There are four uniforms combinations the Commanders could choose
Washington Post
30-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Bethesda's second-largest home on the market for $18.75 million
Want to top Dan Snyder? Consider purchasing this Bethesda mansion, which has 26,000 square feet of living space, the most of houses currently for sale in the D.C. area and about 900 more square feet than the eternally-on-the-market property once owned by the former owner of the Washington Commanders. If you count the total space of the Arrowood Road house, including two garages that fit up to seven cars, that square footage rises to more than 34,000, according to the listing. It could be yours for $18.75 million.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Colts' Jim Irsay was the NFL's fallible and touchable owner, and his bold voice spelled the end of Dan Snyder
More than two years ago, when reports were flying that embattled Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder was threatening a knives out approach inside the league's fraternity of billionaires, some troubling questions emerged for some of the most powerful decision makers in football. What dirt had Snyder dug up on his fellow owners? Advertisement If he lost his bid to hold onto the Commanders, who would he use it on? And with this threat hanging overhead, who among the owners could take him on publicly? Then came a day in October of 2022, when Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay strode across the lobby of the Conrad hotel in downtown New York like a man with purpose. Taking a path straight into a throng of microphones and recorders, he peered into several cameras. And in a moment that would prove both weighty and unprecedented, he broke ranks with the fraternity and became the league's 'young Turk', effectively sending a message that it was about time for Snyder to gather his things and head for the exit. 'I believe there is merit to removing him as owner of the team,' Irsay said, immediately sending shockwaves through the NFL community. 'There's consideration that he should be removed.' Advertisement More than any other moment before those two sentences — and the word 'merit', which felt like a lightning bolt — it was suddenly clear that Snyder's NFL reign was coming to an end. After the congressional hearings and multiple league investigations and punishments, the penultimate public blow to Snyder was delivered by the pitch perfect messenger: The one owner who didn't have to fear whatever dirt Snyder had, because Irsay's mess was seemingly always out in the open anyway. Sometimes it was aired out intentionally by Irsay himself ... and sometimes aired out unintentionally by Irsay himself. This is the moment I thought of when the news spread on Wednesday that Irsay had died in his sleep at age 65. That one of his last major acts as an NFL owner was to prove that inside the fraternity, the untouchables could be made to be touchable. And at the very least, Irsay was that: fallible and flawed, colorful if not occasionally temperamental. And of course, successful, too. His critics will grumble at that point, remembering the last decade of Colts football as largely a middling struggle to recover from the unexpected retirement of Andrew Luck. But those who have long known Irsay will tell you that he was as frustrated as anyone else with the inability to put it all back together again. He was long haunted by not winning more Super Bowls with Peyton Manning and remained sad about the painful retirement decision that Luck was forced to make. Irsay did right by both players when the end came — releasing Manning so he could find his best late-career fit in the Denver Broncos, and declining to claw back nearly $25 million in signing bonus money that he could have chased down after Luck's career came to an abrupt end. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay (right) was emotional after announcing the team was releasing quarterback Peyton Manning on March 7, 2012. (Sam Riche/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) (MCT via Getty Images) But it's worth remembering that before those events pushed the Colts into the football wilderness, there was a 16-year run of success from 1999 to 2014 that remade Indianapolis into a football city — after a previous 15-year expanse when it had been largely been personified by the Indiana Pacers and Indianapolis 500. While a great deal of that credit will always go to Manning, it can't be forgotten that Irsay hired Bill Polian to build the Colts, and then Polian did exactly that, drafting and molding one of the most exciting offensive teams that the NFL had ever seen. Advertisement Yes, he inherited the team from his father, Robert Irsay. Yes, he was put to work inside the organization — even becoming the team's general manager at 24 — in a bid of nepotism that exists in literally every single NFL franchise in the league. Go into a team headquarters and throw a couple rocks. Eventually, you'll hit one of the owner's kids, grandkids, nieces or nephews. It's just how the league works. But Irsay deserves the respect of having taken the controls and then listening to the advice of some of the smartest people who have shaped the league, bedrock owners like the Pittsburgh Steelers' Dan Rooney and New York Giants' Wellington Mara. Then he took those lessons and hired football people to make football decisions, while also taking the guidance of Rooney and Mara and declaring that his team would be a family affair. That's why after his passing, the question didn't immediately turn to whether the Colts would be put up for sale. Instead, the wheel now goes into the hands of the three daughters he's been preparing to take over for years. That includes the eldest, Carlie Irsay-Gordon, who is expected to take over control of the team, and her two younger sisters, Casey Foyt and Kalen Jackson. All three have held roles in the franchise for years. It's that kind of legacy plan that will keep the Colts grounded in Indianapolis, without fear of new ownership coming in and shaking things up or possibly even attempting to move entirely decades down the road. And for those who would laugh that off as implausible, there was a time when fans in Baltimore thought that, too. Before Irsay's father left town in one of the ugliest moves in league history. Advertisement That's part of the imperfect lineage, too. As Irsay would point out over the expanse of his life, he was born out of a family shaped by an alcoholic grandfather and then an alcoholic father — then into the hands of Irsay and his long struggle with substance abuse and coping with the deaths of two siblings at a young age. Much of that has been well documented since he was arrested in 2014 for driving under the influence and found with tens of thousands of dollars in cash and prescription drugs, a turning point that led to Irsay getting suspended by the NFL for six games and checking himself into a rehab facility. All of which highlighted a continual challenge that he often talked about openly, shaping his image in a way that called for a wide variety of titles. He could be a colorful, wandering hippy, or sometimes seem broken and struggling with mental health. That included his physical well-being, which had declined in recent years and included a hospitalization in 2024 that the Colts described as 'respiratory' related. But wherever Irsay was at in life, he was often open about it in a way that is uncommon amongst NFL owners. In a fraternity that commonly avoids emotional and mental nakedness, Irsay often had no clothes. And that made him appealing, so long as you could separate that part of him from his football failures over the last 10 years of his life. Advertisement Like most of us, he was a mixed bag. There were wins and losses, successes and failures. He was surely the best of himself and the worst of himself and also something in between. Different people will remember him different ways. And everyone will likely be right in their assessment at least some of the time. Personally, I'll remember him as the flawed, touchable owner who took on Dan Snyder publicly and sent a powerful NFL message when others inside the league's circle of power wouldn't. To borrow from Irsay's fighting stance in 2022, there's merit in that.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Inside How Snyder Draft Meddling Cost Commanders A Late-Round All-Pro
After 25 years of what some call the worst ownership tenure of any sport, Dan Snyder sold the Washington Commanders to a group headed by Josh Smith, owner of the NHL's New Jersey Devils and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. All it took was a record $6 billion, and pressure from the NFL amid accusations of sexual misconduct and shady business practices, and the city of Washington was finally done with Snyder. Advertisement Then it took exactly one season for the franchise to crawl from the proverbial gutter to a Super Bowl contender behind the leadership of new general manager Adam Peters and new head coach Dan Quinn. But a former GM who worked under Snyder related a story about Snyder and the 2015 NFL Draft that seems to sum up the state of the organization under Snyder's leadership. Scot McCloughan served as the GM for the Commanders in 2015 and 2016. He appeared on the Kevin Sheehan Show on TEAM 980 in D.C. this week and wanted to discuss a situation during the 2015 NFL Draft when he wanted to take Maryland wideout Stefon Diggs in the fourth round. 'If I could tell you the story I would, but I can't on radio. I was told I couldn't by the owner,' the former Commanders GM said. 'He was sitting next to me when the scout told me I couldn't take him. I wanted Diggs, he was the highest rated on my board at the time.' Advertisement McCloughan clearly wanted to draft Diggs, a local kid. But for some reason that was not made clear, Snyder overruled his new GM. Washington instead selected Duke wideout Jamison Crowder with the 105th overall pick. He played out four seasons with the franchise before signing with the New York Jets as a free agent in 2019. He also played for the Buffalo Bills and New York Giants before returning to Washington in 2023. Crowder was a fine player for the franchise for a number of seasons, but he was no Stefon Diggs. Diggs is entering his 11th season after being selected in the fifth round by the Minnesota Vikings. He's made four Pro Bowls, one First-Team All-Pro and one Second-Team All-Pro. In 2020, he led the league in both receptions and receiving yards. Crowder never made any Pro Bowls or postseason honors in the NFL. Related: Caleb Bombshell Highlights Commanders Luck With Jayden Related: Commanders Top Pick Non-'Red Flag' Injury Issue Revealed
