The long overdue change was anticipated by many in the world of sports.
Names that were offensive to Native Americans and indigenous people would finally be dropped. It started when the Washington Football Team let go its Redskins nickname, and it looked to show even at the highest levels of professional sports.
It showed that the gravity to get rid of names of the same type would be on the way out, although Dan Snyder was unfalteringly opposed to changing Washington’s name. All eyes turned to Cleveland’s baseball team as soon as Washington became the Football Team. They were same groups that have long called for a name change from their Indians nickname.
Cleveland hadn’t shown much interest much in the way Washington hadn’t in changing its name. However, they’ve steadily gone away from using the highly offensive Chief Wahoo logo. However, according to David Waldstein and Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times, that will change soon. They reported an announcement that the team will change its name is coming very soon.
Following years of protests from fans and Native American groups, the Cleveland Indians have decided to change their team name, moving away from a moniker that has long been criticized as racist, three people familiar with the decision said Sunday.
One of the people said Cleveland planned to keep the Indians name and uniforms for the 2021 season while working to shift away from it as early as 2022.
As noted in the Times report, there are plenty of logistical hurdles to clear in changing the name, including working with apparel partners and sponsors, which is why they may keep the name and uniforms for next season — although the Football Team successfully pivoted away from their name in a rather swift turnaround that would indicate Cleveland could probably do the same if they so wanted to. Still, even if it isn’t until 2022 it’s a welcome change and one Cleveland fans have seemed to expect in recent years, regularly discussing name change options on social media — Spiders is a particularly popular option.
