Wright preaches need to 'show your work' with WFT name change originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Washington Football Team and team president Jason Wright gave a slight peek into the organization’s name-change process earlier this week, revealing in a video that they’ve narrowed their list down to three finalists.
It’s been over a year since the team adopted “Washington Football Team” as its temporary nickname and began its search for a new, permanent brand identity, but Wright preached patience on an appearance with Grant and Danny on 106.7 The Fan.
“What we’re trying to do this whole time is to show the process,” Wright said. “One, because we think it’s important enough to show the homework on this, to work with the fans because as I mentioned in that video, this is stewarding folks’ memories. This is stewarding generations of cheering and family connections and friend connections.
“I just think it’s important to show your work sort of like in long division. We go through this because we owe that to the fans. In the next ‘Making the Brand’ episode we’ll talk about a different criteria that helps us evaluate the process.”
Throughout the episode of “Making the Brand” in question, Wright discusses several name options with head coach Ron Rivera and general manager Martin Mayhew. The catch was Washington’s content team blurred each of their mouths and bleeped out any mention of the names under discussion.
That didn’t stop some fans from attempting to read Wright and Rivera’s lips through the blur and figure out which name they so adamantly agreed on liking. That’s a part of the process Wright has definitely enjoyed.
“I love our fans, that’s what I have to say about this,” Wright said. “I frickin’ love our fans, whether they are kindly but mildly frustrated with the process or very enthused by the way we’re engaging and trying to have fun with what is a really important and big decision, I love our fans, their passion, the content creators in our fan network that take the time and energy to build our brand by engaging on this, I think it’s all amazing and dope.”
Don’t expect the fan engagement and interest to speed up Wright in the process, however. He’s going to take his time and make an announcement at what he feels is the right time for everyone involved. That remains early in 2022 sometime in the months before the NFL Draft in April. So it’s unclear if fans will know the three finalists before the decision is made. That’s still being discussed.
“We have to decide what we share openly because there are tradeoffs to it,” Wright said. “There are downsides to sharing specific details about specific names, especially being able to get them over the line and make them reality. My promise has always been to strike the right balance of openness and making sure we do it in the proper way so that the rollout is professional, on time and delivered in a highly competent way.”