Amazon has pulled merchandise for the Washington, D.C. NFL team from its website as pressure to drop the Redskins moniker continues to increase. Other retailers including Walmart, Nike, and Target have also said they would stop selling the merchandise. Fanatics, which also operates NFLShop.com, will continue to sell the gear.
The NFL team is likely to change its name in the coming weeks, and reports suggest there will be no Native American imagery in a new logo. Along with a name change could come new minority owners as three shareholders – Dwight Schar, Bob Rothman, and Fred Smith – have hired an investment bank to help find buyers. The trio owns 40% of the franchise, which was valued last year at $3.1 billion.
On Monday, 15 Native American leaders and organizations sent a joint letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell asking him to force the team to change its name. In the letter, the group called for the NFL to ban all usage of Native imagery, as well as encourage journalists to use the name in print only by using asterisks – R*dsk*ns.
