Josh Harris recruited investors in the Commanders by, among other things, pointing to the positive financial impact of getting rid of Daniel Snyder.
It’s already happening.
Via A.J. Perez of FrontOfficeSports.com, Anheuser-Busch has returned to the stable of sponsors. A-B dumped the Commanders in March 2022.
Just yesterday, the Commanders and Verizon announced a deal that makes the company the official 5G provider of the franchise.
The new sponsorship deals come at a time when more and more fans are jostling for a return of the team’s abandoned nickname. Tens of thousands have signed a petition, an effort sparked by the nonchalant use of the dictionary-defined slur by Josh Harris and limited partner Magic Johnson in the aftermath of the approval of the sale.
While Harris and Johnson might have been floating a trial balloon, the embrace of the abandoned name could complicate new and existing sponsorship relationships. None will drop the team for not bringing back the old name; if the old name returns, some could.
Whether they meant to do it or not, Harris and Johnson resurrected this specific skirmish in the broader culture wars, mobilizing proponents of the former name who insist that the name isn’t a slur and that Native Americans aren’t, or shouldn’t be, troubled by it.