The Washington Commanders found out that fans still love the Redskins after they put their warehoused Redskins merch into their online store, and the Redskins-branded merch sold out in a flash.
Of course, the team dumped its nearly 100-year-old name back in 2020 in a bow to complaints by leftists that the name was “racist,” but what does one do with a warehouse full of merch with the old name on it? Well, it appears that the renamed Washington Commanders decided to have a fire sale of sorts and list a truckload of it on its e-store in hopes of finally getting some cash for all that stored merch it hasn’t been able to do anything with for the last six years.
The fans, of course, went wild.
According to NBC Sports’ Mike Florio, the Commanders put up a bunch of the merch with the Redskins name and logo for sale earlier this week. And now, it has all sold out.
“The Commanders defended the decision to sell gear with the name and logo by citing accuracy in honoring franchise alumni. The team also mentioned the necessity of keeping its trademark rights viable,” Florio noted.
The team reaffirmed that its former name and logo are not returning, but explained that the limited sale of the old merch is due to the need to preserve its trademark rights.
“We are required to maintain the marks in commercial usage so that marks remain under franchise control,” a club spokesman told WUSA.
Under the Lanham Act trademark law, a trademark is considered abandoned if it is not in use for three consecutive years.
Apparently, there is still some of the merch in the brick-and-mortar store the team runs at the stadium. But everything that was listed online is already gone.
Still, the sale has some wondering whether the team is guarding its trademark so zealously because it does intend to bring the Redskins name back at some point… or at least is keeping its options open for it.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: Facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston, or at X/Twitter @WTHuston