The Washington Football Team has a new name: Commanders.
The organization unveiled its new name and logo with a grand reveal on Wednesday.
“As an organization, we are excited to rally and rise together as one under our new identity while paying homage to our local roots and what it means to represent the nation’s capital,” co-owner and co-CEO Daniel Snyder said in a statement. “As we kick-off our 90th season, it is important for our organization and fans to pay tribute to our past traditions, history, legacy and the greats that came before us. We continue to honor and represent the Burgundy & Gold while forging a pathway to a new era in Washington. Today may mark the first day for the Washington Commanders, but we are and always will be Washington.”
The franchise has spent the last two seasons as the Washington Football Team after retiring its previous nickname in the summer of 2020. The Football Team removed its prior logo and stripes from its helmet, replacing it with gold numbers on the burgundy shell. The rest of the uniform remained the same, but the team's nickname was replaced with Washington on the chest.
A stylized W replaced the club's previous logo. Now, a new W that fits its fresh branding will take its place.
The new W is similar to the previous logo, but includes lines across the letter to create a beveled look that is also more symmetrical than the previous W logo. The team explained the logo's "angled cuts, bolded lines and serifs signify forward movement and progress." The new mark comes in two color versions: burgundy with a gold outline, and gold with a burgundy outline. The former will be considered the team's primary logo, while the club also rolled out a new, vertically stacked wordmark and a circular crest that aims to connect the franchise's past with its future.
The new uniforms are a rather drastic shift from what the Washington franchise has worn for much of its history. Washington has placed its Commanders nickname across the chest of its home burgundy top while placing a triple stripe on the sleeves in gold-white-gold. The burgundy pants appear to just be one solid color, though there wasn't much imagery provided of any of the team's apparent three sets of pants.
Washington's road uniform is an all-white set with burgundy numbers outlined in black and a Washington wordmark across the chest. The burgundy numbers include a gradient consisting of a dot pattern that almost appears to be perforation and matches the sleeves' gradient within two burgundy bordering sections of color that fill out the sleeved portion of the jersey. Inside that gradient exists a black stripe that replaces the white portion of the sleeve stripe on the home jersey.
Washington also introduced an alternate, all-black uniform that seems to seize upon the team's military imagery, placing the nickname on the chest and bordering the player names on the back nameplate. The all-black set features gold numbers outlined in burgundy and includes an alternate black helmet in what can be seen as a preview of possible future uniform variety following the NFL's decision to eliminate the one-shell rule after this season. Washington's black helmet includes player numbers on the side and the team's W logo on the forehead in somewhat of a peculiar twist in helmet design.
The best element of the team's new look has to be its primary helmet, which carries over the burgundy and gold scheme with a new twist. The burgundy shell features a metallic, satin finish that pleases the eye when viewed with its matching burgundy facemask. Washington is returning to a striped helmet, but using just one gold stripe down the center. The team's new W logo is on both sides of the helmet.
As with every branding change, adjusting to the club's new name and look will take some time. But the newly minted Commanders have their identity after two years spent without a proper nickname.