After playing as the Washington Football Team for the last two years, the Washington Commanders will kick off the 2022 NFL season after announcing their new name. Having teased the release of the new name in early January, Washington finally unveiled their new team name on Wednesday, February 2.
The Washington Commanders is the new name of the team in DC
The announcement of the Washington Commanders comes as no real shock. Over the past couple of weeks, it had become apparent this would be the team name. A potential Commanders logo was seen in a team-produced video. Then, there was the discovery that “Commanders.com” had been transferred to MarkMonitor, the company used by the NFL for 26 of its 32 teams.
Finally, there was Joe Theismann speaking openly about the name “Washington Commanders” on a radio show the Monday before the release. Of course, all of this could have been a very clever game from the NFL and the Washington franchise, but they revealed that not to be the case on Wednesday.
Why the Washington Commanders?
The name fits the team’s location in terms of being in Washington. The city is home to the Pentagon and top military officials — commanders, if you will. It is also the home of the White House, where the President — the commander in chief — lives. All of that makes this a choice that certainly makes sense from a logistical point of view.
Perhaps more importantly than the name is that the franchise remains committed to keeping the Burgundy and Gold with this change. The new logo retains those colors and gives a nod to the team’s history that has seen them win three Super Bowls and two NFL Championships prior to the merger.
What were other names in contention?
There appeared to be eight finalists, at least according to team CEO Tanya Snyder on an ESPN podcast appearance in September 2021. This was later somewhat disputed by the team president, Jason Wright. On Twitter, Wright said that the eight names were “no form of a final eight list.” He did state at the time that the franchise was selecting between three names but did not say what those finalists were. Here are the eight names that Snyder mentioned on the podcast:
- Armada
- Brigade
- Commanders
- Defenders
- Presidents
- Red Hogs
- Red Wolves
- Football Team
One name that had appeared to be ruled out was “Red Wolves.” Wright said in January 2022 that the name had been ruled out due to trademark issues. However, it is not clear if that name was originally one of the three finalists prior to those issues.