When the University of North Dakota moved on from referring to its sports teams as the Fighting Sioux – akin to how Washington’s NFL franchise is now moving on from being the Redskins – the new name could have been anything.
More than 1,600 suggestions were submitted, ranging from the realistic to the ridiculous, including the “Abdominal Snowman.”
Dan Snyder, the owner since 1999 of the franchise based near the nation’s capital, isn’t welcoming that long list of suggestions, though what he and the organization do next will determine how the team is perceived for decades.
“Here’s where I think the fun begins and the work begins,” said Brand Federation founding partner and CEO Kelly O’Keefe, who was on North Dakota’s name change task force. “To just pop out with a new name is not the right answer. The right answer is to build a process that starts to allow these people to be heard in the process of developing a new name.”
Snyder and first-year coach Ron Rivera are already at work developing what the team called “a new name and design approach that will enhance the standing of our proud, tradition-rich franchise and inspire our sponsors, fans and community for the next 100 years.”