Commanders ownership partner echoes president's stance on team name change

Washington Commanders ownership partner Mitchell Rales echoed the team's president's recent words on a potential name change on Wednesday.

According to a report by Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post, Rales told a crowd of almost 700 people at a dinner hosted by David Rubenstein and the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. that the organization wouldn't be going back to being called the "Redskins."

"That ship has sailed," Rales said, per Jhabvala's report. "We’re not going to re-litigate the past. We’re about the future. We’re about building the future and not having a divisive culture that we’re engaged in. We’re going to look at everything come the end of the year and think about a lot of different things and do a lot of testing and see what people think. And we’ll learn. The beauty is we have the time to look at all of this stuff intelligently and make fan-based decisions."

It was reported in July, one day after the of the historic sale of franchise to Josh Harris (officially bringing the Dan Snyder era to an end), that there was a "pretty good chance" that the new ownership would change the team name again and have a "complete re-branding."

Last week, team president Jason Wright said that going back to the longtime nickname was "not being considered."

If a change of any kind does happen, it'll be the third swap since the organization moved to the nation's capital in 1937, according to Pro Football Reference. The changes have all come in the last few years.

The franchise was the Boston Braves in 1932 and the Boston Redskins from 1933-36. Washington then held the controversial nickname from 1937-2020, before becoming the Washington Football Team for two seasons.

The current moniker was officially announced as the newest team name in February 2022. The group became the first to change its name without moving cities since the Tennessee Titans, who switched over from the Oilers in 1999.