National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell is willing to listen to objections to the Washington Redskins name, he says, though the decision to change its name isn’t ultimately his.
“If one person is offended, we have to listen,” Goodell said on a D.C.-area radio station on Wednesday. The NFL has insisted that the name is used in “a highly respectful manner” and has “always intended to be positive.”
The name has stirred controversy in recent months as activists have stepped up protests that it’s offensive to American Indians. Goodell said Redskins team owner Daniel Snyder, who has said he’ll never change the name, will be the one who makes the call on the moniker. “Ultimately, it’s Dan’s decision,” Goodell told the radio station.
At the start of this NFL season, the Oneida tribe of New York began airing ads calling on Goodell to change the team’s name on radio stations in the Washington area and in cities where the Redskins have away games.