Adidas Offers Services to High Schools Willing to Change Native American Mascots

Adidas is offering up its design services to high schools around the United States that are currently utilizing Native American mascots and are willing to change.

Anne M. Peterson of the Associated Press passed along word of the offer from the German-based sports company. Darren Rovell of ESPN.com noted the corporation is also willing to provide financial assistance.

Adidas spoke about the initiative on its Twitter account following the announcement:

The Redskins were quick to issue a response from team spokesman Maury Lane, via John Woodrow Cox of the Washington Post:

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The hypocrisy of changing names at the high school level of play and continuing to profit off of professional like-named teams is absurd. Adidas make hundreds of millions of dollars selling uniforms to teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and the Golden State Warriors, while profiting off sales of fan apparel for the Cleveland Indians, Florida State Seminoles, Atlanta Braves and many other like-named teams.

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Much of the focus surrounding the sensitive issue has involved the NFL's Washington Redskins. Team owner Daniel Snyder told USA Today in 2013 he would "never" change the name despite backlash in recent years. Adidas does have some ties to the organization, as backup quarterback Robert Griffin III is an Adidas athlete.

They are far from the only organization using a Native American nickname, though. It ranges across every level of organized sports, and research by FiveThirtyEight shows 92 percent of more than 2,100 such nicknames are used by high schools.

According to FiveThirtyEight, across high school, college, pro, semi-pro and amateur teams as of July 2013, popular mascots included the Braves, Chiefs, Indians, Orangemen, Redmen, Reds, Redskins, Savages, Squaws and Tribe, among others.