Money pressure might finally force Snyder’s hand on Redskins name

This latest push to force the hand of Daniel Snyder regarding the Redskins team name might actually work.

The reason: money.

FedEx, whose name is on the stadium in which the team plays, has requested that “the team in Washington” drop the name.

FedEx paid $205 million for the naming rights to the stadium in a deal that runs through 2025.

Frederick Smith, the company’s chairman, president and CEO, is also a minority owner of the NFL team.

That move may have come because of something up the line.

Adweek reported this week that a group of 87 investment firms and shareholders worth $620 billion sent letters to FedEx, Nike and PepsiCo asking them that they sever their ties with the team unless it changes its name.

FedEx, obviously, followed through, and it appears that Nike is doing so as well. A search of the Nike website this morning for “Redskins” produced no results.

Snyder has consistently resisted pushes to drop the Redskins name, vowing in 2013 that he would “never” change the name.

But that was when all he had to do was stand up to political pressure.

Bad PR is one thing. It might cost you money, it might not.

This latest effort almost certainly will hit the team’s bottom line.

Never might become soon.

Story by Chris Graham