1) There’s a long and messy history between Congress and the Washington Redskins. This goes back decades. In the early 1990s, the Redskins considered a tract of unused land adjacent to RFK Stadium as a new home, perhaps building a $206 million, 78,000 seat stadium there
2) Former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell of CO was the only Native American in Congress at the time. “The name `Redskins' is highly offensive to Native Americans because it conjures up bad stereotypical images of Indians,” Campbell said in the summer of 1993. “
3) Repurposing the federal tract of land adjacent to RFK Stadium would likely require Congressional sign-off. And, Campbell threatened to block such a development unless the team changed its name.
4) Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke countered that there was “nothing in the world" wrong with the team name. The club argued the Redskins moniker served as an homage to the traditions and strength of Native Americans.
5) Sen Campbell drafted a bill barring the RFK parking lot be used “by any person or organization exploiting any racial or ethnic group or using nomenclature that includes a reference to real or alleged physical characteristics of Native Americans or other groups of human beings"
6) That's partly why the Redskins wound up in Landover, MD in 1997, playing at FedEx Field. Just as Cooke wrestled with Campbell, Redskins owner Dan Snyder soon encountered another foe: former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).
7) Reid undertook a pet project during the final years of his service on Capitol Hill. A federal court cancelled the team’s trademark in 2014. That seemed to invigorate Reid.
8) Reid ould routinely come to the flr toblast Snyder & implore him to change the team name. Reid described the club as “a racist franchise,” even hoping the team would lose games. Considering the team’s fates of late, the Redskins probably didn’t need any intercessions from Reid
9) After the “Deflategate” controversy with the New England Patriots, Reid beseeched NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to “act as swiftly and decisively changing the name of the DC team as he did about not enough air in a football.”
10) Reid and other Senate Democrats crafted legislation to end the NFL’s tax exempt status if it didn’t order a change in the team’s name.
11) "It is not right that the National Football League continues to denigrate an entire population," said Reid in 2015, noting the 27 Native American tribes he represented in Nevada. “Every time they hear this name is a sad reminder of a long tradition of racism and bigotry.”
12) Reid predicted that eventually “the name will change.” The Redskins says that’s now on the table.
13) The Redskins are again looking for a new home – potentially in the District of Columbia. The Nationals & DC United are gone from RFK Stadium. The building is scheduled to be razed next year
14) That’s why there’s chatter that the team’s old site may be the perfect spot for a new arena.
15) DC Mayor Murial Bowser (D) and the city’s non-voting representative in Congress Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) would love to have the local football team back in the District of Columbia. Norton would like the team to play at the RFK location – if they change the name.
16) Norton says she would author a bill to retool the RFK site for construction of a new stadium if the franchise abandons the current nickname.
