Washington's NFL franchise will simply be known as "Washington Football Team" — for the time being.
The team confirmed the name change on Thursday when it changed its Twitter handle over to @WashingtonNFL. The new account includes the team's temporary logo — a stylized "W" — and tweeted photoshopped images of current players in new team uniforms, devoid of the old branding.
ESPN and NBC Sports report that the name is just a placeholder until the team picks a new team name in the near future.
The team will keep its same burgundy and gold color scheme and largely keep the same uniform set However, the team will remove its old logo from its helmets and replace it with player numbers.
The new jersey will also replace the team's old nickname with the word "Washington."
The team officially retired its nickname — a dictionary-defined term for Native Americans — earlier this year amid nationwide protests over systemic racism.
Effective immediately, Washington will call itself the “Washington Football Team”, pending adoption of a new name, sources tell ESPN.
This is not a final renaming and rebranding for team; this is the name it wants to use until pending adoption of a new name in the future. pic.twitter.com/sBs0Uo0ICm
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 23, 2020
It's unclear when the team will choose a new nickname.
