Just one day after a major sponsor of the Washington Redskins issued a rebuke of the football team's controversial name, the franchise announced it will "review" the moniker. FedEx, "a Fortune 100 company that for more than two decades has tied its brand to that of the team," as The Washington Post reports, made the request on Thursday after investors worth more than $620 billion in assets urged the company to cut ties with the team unless the name was changed. Nike, another sponsor, removed Redskins merchandise from its online store Thursday.
The move is significant because it suggests the battle over sports team names "has shifted from moral appeals to business and political tactics," the Post says, especially as the U.S. grapples with its long history of racial inequality in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
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