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One franchise in the National Football League will soon have a new name and mascot. The Washington Football Team has stated that the changes are imminent.
On Twitter Tuesday morning, the team posted a video with a tweet saying, "The wait is almost over. Mark your calendars: 2.2.22."
In the video posted on social media, footage of the franchise's most iconic players and coaches rolls, along with images of fans cheering on the team. Dramatic music and snippets of radio broadcasts play as interspersed texts pays homage to their history, fans, players and community as it teases to the forthcoming change.
For the past two seasons, the franchise has been known as the Washington Football Team, when the organization officially retired its previous name and logo in July 2020, ahead of the 2020 season.
The organization changed its name following pressure from sponsors, protests and cries of racism about the team's former moniker.
At the time, the team said the move to retire the previous name came after a "thorough review of the team's name." The statement went on to say that owner Daniel Synder and Coach [Ron] Rivera are working closely to develop a new name and design approach that will enhance the standing of our proud, tradition rich franchise and inspire our sponsors, fans and community for the next 100 years."
In 2021, the team announced that they were taking fan submissions for their new name. After fan submission opened, they said they received nearly 40,000 submissions online and through the mail.
Later, in 2021, the team said that on YouTube they had whittled the team suggestions down to just three. Some of the names mentioned but never confirmed by the team were the Red Hogs, Defenders, Armada, Presidents, Brigade, Commanders and Red Wolves.
Following the announcement, a number of fans were attempting to guess the name. One Twitter user, @JosephPasteris, stated, "Trademark office shows this may be the new name. Who knows?," with an image of a menacing groundhog accompanying his tweet.
Another Twitter user, @Jeffreydowns74, said that since "Redwolves is off the table. Redhogs is now my favorite."
Commenter @CamButler on Twitter had yet another guess as to the team's new name, saying that "gotta be admirals with a W like this right?"
And one person on Twitter, @RyanRutherchevy, responded by saying, "One of my friends just texted me to head to washingtonadmirals.com and it redirects to Washington website."
The NFL's regular season wraps up this weekend. The Washington Football Team, who are currently third in the NFL's NFC East division at 6-10, finish the season with a game against the New York Giants. According to ESPN, the team has been officially eliminated from playoff contention.
