The Washington Football Team has been featuring their numbers on the helmets this seasonGETTY IMAGES
Washington Football Team President Jason Wright admitted there is a “pretty good chance” the franchise will not have a new nickname prior to the '21 NFL season and will keep the current WFT moniker. Wright, appearing in a wide-ranging interview with DC-based WJLA-ABC, noted the new brand “has to come together through uniforms, through approval processes, through the league and all that.” Wright: “Next year is fast. ... We could get there quicker, but it’s actually pretty hard to get there that quickly because of all the steps that need to happen.” He mentioned the franchise needs to “do analysis (and) understand the market” before landing on a new identity. Wright added, “It’s important to engage the fans and community substantively so that they know how the process is unfolding. ... We do want this name and brand to represent the entire area, to represent the fan base, but also to attract more folks to this fan base.”
TRYING TO CHANGE THE CULTURE: The organization this summer was rocked by two separate Washington Post articles that portrayed a culture of toxic work environments ripe with sexual harassment over the past two decades, and Wright said the franchise is “doing a pretty robust diagnostic of our culture right now.” Wright, who was brought in largely to oversee changes within the organization, said, “I’m actually starting to analytically see the pockets where we’re good, bad, ugly and otherwise.” He noted it is important that the NFL's ongoing investigation into the team be “thorough” and added any change “will take time.” Wright said they have been successful in helping the “workforce understand that we mean what we say, that when we make a promise, when we say we’re going to do something as a leadership team, we follow through and we do it.” Wright: “There are things that we are doing that are reestablishing trust across the organization ... (and) opening up lines of communication.”
FANS ALLOWED BACK SOON? Fans will not be allowed at FedExField for Sunday's game against the Cowboys in a continuation of the team's season-long policy, but Wright alluded to the team's Nov. 8 matchup against the Giants for a potential change. He said the two-week period gives the team “plenty of time to be prepared to do something substantial.” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan last week announced a limited number of fans now could begin attending sporting events in the state -- something the Ravens plan to take advantage of this coming Sunday. However, Wright said this weekend was “too quick a turnaround for us to feel like we could do it safely.” Wright: “We’ll continue to expand the friends and family and staff approach this week for the Cowboys. It would have been great to have (fans) for the Cowboys game. But especially for something like this, while I like to move fast, I don't like to rush” (WJLA.com, 10/20).
