NFL

DC's NFL Team Will Go by Washington Football Team for 2020

The legendary burgundy and gold colors will stay

NBC Universal, Inc.

The burgundy and gold is adopting a temporary name while it finds a new one.

Washington, D.C.'s, NFL team will go by Washington Football Team for the upcoming season.

The team will compete under that name while it works on developing a new name with input from fans, the team officially announced Thursday.

"The decision to use 'Washington Football Team' for this season allows the franchise the ability to undertake an in-depth branding process to properly include player, alumni, fan, community, and sponsor input," a press release said.

Fans, media and all other parties are encouraged to use the new name immediately, the release said.

"I would call the team just about anything if we win," Ken Meringolo said. Meringolo is the co-founder of Hogs Haven, a team community site.

Washington's football team announced it will retire the name that's lasted for 87 years. The logo too. News4's Cory Smith got reaction from fans who have been calling for the change for years.

The Washington Football Team will keep its burgundy and gold color scheme, but uniforms will be redesigned.

The helmets will feature each player's jersey number instead of the old logo. The team released some photos showing players' jerseys with "Washington" emblazoned on the chest.

"I think it’s going to be fly. I mean to have that  number on the side. It’s old-school, classic football look," former player Tre Johnson said.

The Washington Football Team Announced it will go without an official nickname and stick with the city name for now. News4's Chris Gordon spoke with fans and former players to hear their thoughts.

The team also closed their old Twitter account and debuted a new handle, @WashingtonNFL.

However, that account still had an image of a Native American person's head as the logo. The team said it plans to change that branding, too.

The name and logo will be retired over the next 50 days and the organization hopes to complete the process by the team’s home opener against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 13.

New home uniforms will be debuted for the game against the Eagles. The first game for the new away uniforms will be during Week 2, when Washington Football faces the Cardinals.

Fan merchandise with the new name will be rolled out to the NFL shop "in the coming days," the team said.

The moniker will be retired from FedEx Field and other physical spaces starting Friday and continuing over the next few weeks.

The team announced earlier this month that it would drop the nickname it held for 87 years and its old logo after decades of pressure and a more recent push from corporate sponsors, despite owner Dan Snyder at one point vowing the name would "never" change.

FedEx — whose CEO is a minority owner — and other prominent sponsors called on Snyder to drop the name, and he did so after launching a review process.

Red Wolves and Red Tails are among the betting favorites for the new name. When NBC Washington asked fans which suggestions they liked, Washington Warriors was a clear frontrunner.

But the team stressed they are taking time to develop the new name.

“I think it’s critically important because you don’t want to do (a name change) again,” Carnegie Mellon associate professor of marketing and strategy Tim Derdenger said recently. “You don’t want to mess this up, so they really need to take it seriously.”

Snyder and Rivera want to properly honor Native Americans and the military with the team's new name and branding, NBC Sports Washington reported.

On Monday, Snyder hired Terry Bateman as executive vice president and chief marketing officer to oversee the name change and rebranding process.

The Washington Football Team said it's pleased to see fans throwing out suggestions on social media.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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