The NFL may be facing scrutiny for the recent spate of domestic abuse by its players, but the catalyst for moving to strip the NFL of its nonprofit status is the name of one of its teams, according to at least one United States senator.
Senator Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.) announced she will be introducing legislation to revoke the league’s tax exemption status alongside members of the “Change the Mascot” group looking to change the Washington Redskins name.
“The NFL needs to join the rest of America in the 21st century,” she said, as reported by the Hill. “We can no longer tolerate this attitude towards Native Americans. This is not about team tradition. It is about right and wrong.”
Earlier this year, Cantwell sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell with the signatures of 50 senators calling for the name-change on grounds that it is a “racial slur.”
Efforts to repeal the NFL’s tax-exempt status, which it receives as a 501(c)(6) trade association, has been a bipartisan affair in recent years, but Cantwell is the first one to suggest the move over the Redskins’ name.