Is the "they" in this case the Snyder regime? I haven't heard this claim attached to the Harris Group, they've been pretty tight lipped about the name change thing.
The Blackhawks, Braves and Chiefs don't sound anywhere close to capitulating to the small protests. We also know, Snyder didn't give in to protests, as much as he just tried to deflect attention from his awful scandal ridden tenure.
They was the Snyder group, but once everyone started protesting racial inequality the Redskins and the Indians were the first to go. Nobody else changed their name because they weren't offensive enough. Braves tributed proud NA warriors and Chiefs the same thing, those were not slurs or outdated slang.
I wish they could have kept the NA imagery and even the logo and uniforms but sadly the team wanted a whole new start. Harris and co yes have been keen to tribute the past even inviting a lot of the alumni back. But sadly this is what they purchased, a team that for the moment rebranded out of the NA imagery because Snyder and company didn't want the headache of having to deal with it. If it were up to me I'd have kept it all and just changed the name but it's not.
I think if they had kept the old Washington helmets and NA imagery people would have still been upset anyway. There is a real movement and I've seen these people online on this very board complain about how "Native Americans shouldn't be mascots" or the whole idea of them being mascots was silly, even though we literally have Vikings, "Fighting Irish" (offensive!?), Texas Rangers (racist group of "policemen" roaming Texas) etc. I doubt the team wants any more of that trouble, people were going to protest the old uniforms anyway if they still wore them. Harris has said the name is never coming back but if they rebranded those unis they have now for a more NA flair I wouldn't mind. Said time and time again, the old Spurrier 70th? anniversary Spear unis were kickass but sadly can't ever be used anymore.
