Asked if the team would consider shedding “Redskins” from its name in exchange for favor in a new stadium deal, team president Bruce Allen gave the most succinct and definitive answer since owner Dan Snyder first said, “NEVER – you can use caps”, to a name change in May, 2013. It’s likely to be a roadblock to getting a new stadium on the RFK Stadium site in D.C., however, notes ESPN, since the federal government owns that site, and would need to approve a lease extension in order for a new stadium to be built there, and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is an avowed opponent of the team name.
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“The team and its leaders are so obsessed with clinging to a dictionary-defined racial slur that they are willing to abandon their hometown and local fans in order to continue degrading Native Americans”, said Joel Barkin, spokesman for the grassroots campaign. If the Redskins were to move to Washington they would renovate the stadium.
The team now plays at FedEx Field, which opened in Landover, Maryland, in 1997 and wants a new facility.
RFK Stadium sits on land owned by the National Park Service that is leased to the city. “The fans that came out we really appreciated – the players and the coaches working with the kids”.
Governors from Maryland and Virginia said the Redskins’ name will not be a hindrance.
Allen said the league has promised to notify teams prior to the final roster cuts scheduled for September 4th.
“We’ve had a lot of interaction with our fans this year and this offseason, and we’ve listened to them on a number of different issues”, Allen said. “He is a very consistent person in his approach and I think the entire personnel department has done a good job”. “As we said from the beginning, any way that we can impact the kids in this neighborhood, that is one of our primary goals off the field”.
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Allen would also divulge more into the process of signing troubled OLB Junior Galette by explaining that McCloughan, head coach Jay Gruden, himself, and “several of our [Redskin] players” met with Galette individually and guidelines were set for his expected behavior as a Redskin.
