Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) is pushing for the Washington Commanders to honor the team’s former logo as the Senate bill to redevelop the site of the former Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium is being debated.
The former logo of the team, when they were known as the Washington Redskins, depicts a Native American designed after Walter “Blackie” Wetzel, a member of the Blackfeet Nation in Daines’s home state of Montana. Daines has threatened to hold up the bill from passing quickly if the team does not properly honor the old logo.
The Montana senator has explicitly said he is not calling for the team to revert to the “Redskins” name but that they should consult with the grandson of Wetzel, Ryan Wetzel, for the logo to be used in some way to honor him.
“The failure to properly honor the pride and the history embodied by this iconic logo must be made right by both the team’s new ownership and the NFL,” Daines said during a Senate National Parks subcommittee hearing on Wednesday.
“What I’m demanding here is very straightforward that the new team leadership, and the NFL, sit down with the Wetzel family, sit down with the Blackfeet, sit down with tribal leaders, and find a way to properly honor the history of the logo and the heritage of our tribal nations and to rededicate the organization as an advocate for Indian country,” Daines added.
Daines noted he talked with Ryan Wetzel on Tuesday and said honoring the logo could take many forms, including restoring it with a different name after consultation with tribal leaders or resuming the sale of merchandise with the logo.
“It could be resuming merchandise sales featuring the logo and maybe using a portion of the proceeds to bring awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous women and other tribal causes,” Daines said. “For example, on the NFL website, you can buy a retro Houston Oilers jersey with the old logo, but nowhere on the website can you find merchandise with this logo for sale.”
“The new owners in the NFL have the opportunity to heal old wounds, work with families, and enter into a new era. They can properly honor the heritage of the Wetzel family, the Blackfeet tribe, Native Americans across our country,” he added.
A spokesperson for the Commanders told the Washington Examiner in a statement that they “have spoken directly with the Wetzel family and are working collaboratively to recognize Blackie Wetzel for his contributions in creating our former logo.”
Team officials have met with members of the Wetzel family multiple times, including this week, to work through a solution.
RFK Stadium was the home of the Commanders from 1961 until 1996, and the site of the former stadium has been eyed as prime real estate for a new stadium for the team.
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The D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act passed in the House 348-55 in February after being introduced by Rep. James Comer (R-KY) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) in 2023.
The legislation would move control of the land in the district from the secretary of the Interior Department to the administrator of the General Services Administration. Under control of the GSA, the bill stipulates the administrator must enter a lease with the Washington, D.C., government to allow it to redevelop the land into whatever it wants, including a new football stadium for the Commanders, commercial and residential developments, or recreational facilities.