Magic Johnson on Commanders' Potential Name Change: 'Everything's on the Table'

Now that the Washington Commanders are officially in a new era, one prominent member of the ownership group explained the team's recently-adopted nickname may not be in place forever.

Speaking to Craig Melvin on NBC's TODAY (h/t Drew Weisholtz of TODAY.com), Magic Johnson said "everything's on the table" when asked about potentially changing the Commanders nickname.

"We will see where we are with the name," he added, "but I can't say that right now. We're going spend this year understanding what we have in place. And then I'm sure that that'll come up. The Commanders, the name of the team, will come up eventually. But right now we got enough work to do that will keep us busy."

On Thursday, NFL owners unanimously approved the $6.05 billion sale of the Commanders from Dan Snyder to a group led by Josh Harris.

The franchise adopted the Commanders nickname in February 2022 after playing the previous two seasons as the Washington Football Team.

The name change came amid years of controversy about the use of the nickname that had been in place since 1933 when the franchise was based in Boston. The Washington Post announced in August 2014 it wouldn't use the name to identify the team in any of its stories.

In August 2020, ESPN's John Keim detailed the many events that prompted the franchise shift to using Football Team as a nickname. There were also requests from investors and shareholders in companies that had sponsorship deals with the NFL and team to change the name, or risk having those sponsors end their agreements.

While the name change is certainly a positive for the franchise, the choice of Commanders has been met with a tepid response from the fanbase.

A 2022 poll of 904 Washington D.C. residents conducted by the Washington Post revealed 49 percent either disliked or hated the name. Forty-one percent of responders loved or liked it, with 11 percent having no opinion.

Another potential reason for the new ownership group to look into a change involves the Commanders trademark. The United States Patent and Trademark Office denied the franchise's application on May 18, citing an existing trademark for "Commanders' Classic"—the annual college football game between Army and Air Force— and pending applications filed by a man based in the D.C.-area.

Given how close it is to the start of the 2023 season, Johnson indicated any potential name change likely wouldn't occur until next year.