Raphael Stevens

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    Washington’s N.F.L. Team Will Retire Its Logo and Adopt a Temporary New Name

    Washington’s N.F.L. team will retire Redskins branding and adopt a placeholder team name until it can decide on a permanent name, the organization said Thursday, weeks after announcing it would yield to pressure from sponsors and activists and drop the name it has used for nearly 90 years.“For updated brand clarity and consistency purposes, we will call ourselves the ‘Washington Football Team’ pending adoption of our new name,” the team said in a news release, adding that the logo would be retired by the start of the 2020 season in September.The team also said it would roll out an aesthetic that would reflect the direction of the new franchise as it changes.The team’s Twitter account and official site on Thursday took on the temporary name and logo, a large W, though images of original logo remained in some places and its web address using the old name remained unchanged.The team also tweeted a design for new uniforms, which featured its existing color scheme and a numeral on its helmet instead of the drawn profile of a Native American face.The team advertised forthcoming “Washington Football Team” merchandise, and on its website shared prototypes of the temporary logo, uniform concepts and field designs that included an N.F.L. logo at midfield. The end zones in its mock field design read “Washington Football Team, Est. 1932.”Team officials did not return messages seeking comment on Thursday. It was not immediately clear whether fans — if spectators are allowed at all during the coronavirus pandemic — would be allowed to wear merchandise with the old logo to games. It was also not clear whether the team would eventually change its distinctive burgundy and gold colors, a move sought by Native American groups and nearly 150 federally recognized tribes in a letter sent to N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell this month.The team is scheduled to open its season Sept. 13 against the Philadelphia Eagles.On July 13, 10 days after announcing it would review the 87-year-old team name and under mounting pressure from corporate sponsors, fans and Native American activists, the team said it would drop its logo and the name “Redskins,” a term many had long considered a racial slur.The team’s owner, Daniel Snyder, had previously been uncooperative in changing the team’s name, but said the new name would “take into account not only the proud tradition and history of the franchise but also input from our alumni, the organization, sponsors, the National Football League and the local community it is proud to represent on and off the field.”The name change came after weeks of national unrest following the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis in late May, and as much of the country quickly moved to change historical representations that use racist symbols.Last month, the Washington franchise spent several days removing a monument and remembrances honoring its former owner, George Preston Marshall, from team facilities and its website. The change came amid pressure on the team to acknowledge Marshall’s resistance to signing and drafting African-American players and his decision in 1933 to name the team the “Redskins.” A memorial of Marshall, which had stood in front of R.F.K. Stadium, the team’s former arena, was removed by a city agency after being defaced.Last week, the team was once again in the spotlight as 15 women said they were sexually harassed while employed by the team. More

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    New Women’s Soccer Team, Founded by Women, Will Press Equal Pay Cause

    Kara Nortman’s path to owning a professional women’s soccer team began in Vancouver, British Columbia, when she went looking for a women’s soccer jersey during the 2015 Women’s World Cup. Nortman found some, eventually, without players’ names on the backs.“I just didn’t understand why it was so hard,” Nortman said. “I was trying to get people to take my money. Why could nobody take it?”A Southern California native from a sports-driven family, Nortman, a venture capitalist, soon became devoted to women’s soccer, following the top division in the United States, the National Women’s Soccer League, and talking about the game with anyone who would listen — including the actress Natalie Portman, whom she met at a fund-raiser. Both soon became active supporters of the U.S. women’s team’s fight for equal pay, and after last summer’s Women’s World Cup, they decided it was time to involve themselves more personally in the game.“Natalie texted me three times, just one line: ‘Let’s bring a team to L.A.,’” Nortman said.On Tuesday, their dream became a reality when the N.W.S.L. announced that it would expand to Los Angeles in 2022, with a team bankrolled by an ownership group that includes not only Nortman and Portman, but also the tennis star Serena Williams and her husband, the tech entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian; the media consultant Julie Uhrman; and more than a dozen former members of the U.S. women’s team.The Los Angeles team, which said it would release its name and stadium plans before the end of the year, will be the only team in the N.W.S.L. to be owned almost entirely by women. The ownership group of 33 people also includes several women of color, including the actresses Uzo Aduba, Eva Longoria and America Ferrera, and the talk-show host Lilly Singh.Perhaps befitting such a diverse ownership group — which also includes the World Cup winners Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Abby Wambach — the team came into being in a nontraditional way. The owners decided on a mission before approaching the league, then consulted members of the U.S. women’s national team and their players association to better understand the needs of women’s pros. The mission was clear from the start, said Uhrman, the club’s president: “Champions on and off the field.”Part of that motto, she said, would be embracing the fight for pay equity for women by bolstering media coverage of the league, securing new sponsorships and, ultimately, creating stronger revenue streams through increased viewership.“It’s our goal to have women’s professional soccer players make a living only playing women’s professional soccer,” Uhrman said.Becca Roux, the executive director of the United States Women’s National Team Players Association, said the combination of female investors, former women’s pros and people of color on the new team’s board of directors had the potential to be game-changing steps for not only the N.W.S.L., but for other major leagues. Williams and Ohanian’s 2-year-old daughter, Olympia, is also listed as an investor.“We’ve seen other athletes — mostly men — join ownership of sports teams in recent years, but not so much women because they often didn’t make enough money in their careers to buy into a sports franchise,” Roux said.Many challenges remain for the N.W.S.L. The league’s new commissioner, Lisa Baird, has helped stabilize the league since taking over earlier this year, and helped attract several deep-pocketed sponsors to help underwrite its summer tournament. But the N.W.S.L. also requested and received a loan from federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program this spring to cover the salaries of its players, who despite a recent raise still earn as little as $20,000 a year.There are nine teams in the N.W.S.L. and a 10th, in Louisville, Ky., is set to join in 2021. The N.W.S.L. kicked off its eighth season late last month amid the coronavirus pandemic with a so-called bubble tournament in Utah. The semifinals of the event, the Challenge Cup, will be played on Wednesday. The league will crown a champion with a nationally televised game on Sunday afternoon.Plans for a coaching staff and players of the new Los Angeles team, which for now is called Angel City, will become more concrete in 2021, league officials said. But the work for change off the field will start sooner, through a partnership with the LA84 Foundation’s Play Equity Fund, which promotes access to sport for young athletes, particularly those of color.“You just need a ball, some dirt and some grass, which makes it the most played sport in the world,” Nortman said. “Getting access to soccer and other sports into those communities is critical.” More

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    Michael Bennett, a Protest Pioneer, Retires From the N.F.L.

    Michael Bennett, the standout defensive end who spoke out forcefully against racial injustice during his career, said he was retiring after an 11-year N.F.L. career, primarily with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks.“Retiring feels a little like death of self, but I’m looking forward to the rebirth — the opportunity to reimagine my purpose,” Bennett, 34, wrote on Instagram. “I have never been more at peace in my life.”Bennett, like his younger brother, Martellus, a tight end who last played in the N.F.L. in the 2017 season, never shied away from sharing his opinions. In 2017, after the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., Bennett was part of a group of players who began protesting during the playing of the national anthem to raise awareness of police brutality and other forms of injustice. But while most players knelt or raised a fist during the anthem, Bennett drew extra attention because he chose to sit on the bench.He was later joined by a white teammate, offensive lineman Justin Britt, who put his hand on Bennett’s shoulder in solidarity.Doug Baldwin, a Seahawks wide receiver who retired after the 2018 season, said Bennett was never afraid to share his opinions, often backed by data, in and out of the locker room. But he was also willing to listen to others who did not agree with him. At the same time, he followed unconventional paths, as when he chose to sit during the national anthem.“Obviously, he cared deeply about the same issues as we did, but he had his own way fighting and speaking out,” Baldwin said. “He was never afraid to express himself. Whether it was trying to bring people together or being divisive, his intention was to get people to look outside themselves.”Bennett’s protests were informed by his personal experience. In August 2017, Bennett was outside a Las Vegas nightclub when the police were investigating a report of shots fired. Two officers approached Bennett and eventually handcuffed him at gunpoint. Bennett later said that the officers had racially profiled him and used excessive force, including an officer kneeling on his back. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department denied that its force was unwarranted.In 2018, Bennett was indicted on a felony charge, accused of assaulting an elderly security guard when he rushed the field after the 2017 Super Bowl, which Martellus won as a member of the New England Patriots. The charge was dismissed in 2019 because of a lack of evidence.He shared his views about racial inequality, police violence and athletes’ roles in protest movements in “Things That Make White People Uncomfortable,” a book he co-wrote that was released in 2018.In college, he said he was astonished at how white coaches tried to mold Black players in their image.Bennett said about his experience at Texas A&M: “We had white coaches, and they wanted the Black players to be the embodiment of who they were. They would tell us to wear our pants and shoes a certain way; this is what it meant to ‘be a man.’”He called out the N.F.L. for effectively banning Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 but who has gone unsigned since becoming a free agent after that season.“The N.F.L. holds up as leaders players who have been accused of rape, violence against women, and even manslaughter,” Bennett wrote. “They’re right in front of us, playing quarterback and winning Super Bowl M.V.P. awards. I’d much rather call a leader someone who helps his community.”Bennett was signed by the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He was waived early that season and picked up by the Buccaneers, who moved him to defensive tackle.After four seasons at Tampa Bay, the Seahawks signed him again, this time to a one-year contract in 2013. He joined what was already the league’s most dominant defense, helping the Seahawks win their only Super Bowl championship that season in large part because of a strong pass rush and defensive backfield.Bennett was chosen to play in the Pro Bowl three times in his career. In 2018, he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles, where he played one season.In 2019, he played with the Patriots and the Dallas Cowboys. Last October, the Patriots suspended him for one week, citing conduct detrimental to the team; Bennett said it was after a philosophical disagreement with his position coach.In the button-down, just-do-your-job world of the N.F.L., Bennett never seemed to shy away from asking questions and philosophical disagreements.“But if you don’t ask why, nothing, not a damn thing, is ever going to change,” he wrote. More

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    Jets and Giants Are N.F.L.’s First to Say They’ll Play Without Fans

    The Jets and Giants will play their regular-season games without fans at MetLife Stadium this fall, the teams announced in a joint statement Monday, nearly three weeks after Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey issued an executive order limiting social gatherings to 500 people. The teams are the first in the N.F.L. to decide to forego fans, and the revenue they bring, when the season begins in September.Both teams said in the statement that they would continue to work with the governor and update the status of a no-fan plan, if necessary.“We support Governor Murphy’s decision in the interest of public health and safety and, until circumstances change, both the Giants and Jets will play our games without the benefit of fans in attendance,” the teams said in the statement.New Jersey, home of MetLife Stadium, has seen a sharp reduction in the number of coronavirus cases in the past two months, and has been slower than other states to relax social distancing guidelines and closures after being one of the hardest hit states at the outbreak’s onset in March. Gov. Murphy’s order to raise the number of people allowed at public gatherings to 500 from 250 came in early July.Rutgers University will also abide by the limitation this college football season but will allow 500 fans to attend its home games, the school said in a statement Monday.Neither N.F.L. team’s training camps and practices will be open to the public. The Jets will warm up for their training camp in Florham Park, N.J., while the Giants prepare at MetLife at the end of July. In recent weeks, both the Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers also announced that they would hold training camps and preseason games without fans, but both stopped short of saying that they would not admit spectators at regular-season games.Season-ticket holders for both N.F.L. teams are permitted to transfer credits to the 2021-22 season or apply for a full refund. Other teams have either deferred all season tickets or announced plans for half-capacity stadiums, however none have announced a no-fan policy. Restrictions on gatherings in many states across the nation may make crowded stands impossible when the season begins on Sept. 10.But the N.F.L. has not issued any league-wide fan restrictions. Decisions on attendance are up to each team in accordance with guidance from state and local government officials and public health experts, a league spokesman said in an email.The season is expected to kick off on time despite an upswing in infections across the United States in recent weeks. The team owners and the N.F.L. Players Association are still negotiating safety protocols, but both sides agree that they want to play this season, safely.The Jets and Giants teams were two of 13 N.F.L. teams that Ticket IQ, which tracks sales, recommended fans wait to purchase tickets for given local coronavirus outbreaks. Still, the Jets and Giants may bring their audiences back to home games, should New Jersey crowd restrictions change in the coming months. And if they’re allowed to, experts say, fans will be there.“We’ve seen a lot of demand for events that are allowed to happen,” said Jesse Lawrence, the founder of Ticket IQ. “If the safety measures are in place, we expect that fans will come back.” More

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    Jailed Soccer Official Contracts Coronavirus in Florida Prison

    Juan Ángel Napout, a former vice president of soccer’s governing body FIFA serving a nine-year sentence for corruption, has tested positive for the coronavirus inside a Miami federal prison. The positive result came days after a federal judge denied his appeal for compassionate release.Lawyers for Napout, 62, a Paraguayan who was the head of South American soccer at the time of his arrest in 2015, have since April cited the risk of coronavirus in an effort to get him released from the Federal Correctional Institution in Miami. Last week, Judge Pamela K. Chen of Federal District Court, who oversaw Napout’s 2017 trial in Brooklyn, decided to put off a final decision, saying she wanted more time to evaluate the measures being taken to contain the spread of the virus at the jail.Despite the prison’s efforts, including severe lockdown measures, several inmates and prison employees have contracted the virus, and the number of cases continues to grow. According to the latest figures published by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 93 inmates and 10 correctional officers have contracted the virus at the Miami facility, which holds about 1,000 inmates.Based on Napout’s positive test result, his lawyer, Marc A. Weinstein, said in a telephone interview, “We are asking once again for the court to grant Mr. Napout a compassionate release due to the deadly and rampant pandemic that has hit his prison facility.”“When we asked for this relief in April it seemed inevitable that we would get to this point. Now the inevitable has happened: Mr. Napout has tested positive and his life is in danger. The court did not intend to impose a death sentence at the time the sentence was imposed and should take the appropriate steps now to insure that is not the sentence that he suffers.” More