Cleveland announces plans to change name away from ‘Indians’

Monday update: The organization issued a formal statement declaring its plans to change the team name to a non-Native-American based name.

The Cleveland Indians could soon join the Washington Football Team with a generic team name. The organization is changing the team name and could announce its plans as soon as this week, according to the New York Times.

There are no details yet available other than dropping the name and transitioning in a new name. The Times is reporting one source said the organization was planning to keep the Indians name and uniforms for 2021 and shifting away as early as 2022.

There has been extensive critiques of the team name, and we’ve seen the organization phase out the racist Chief Wahoo logo. The team has gone with a block C, but still used Indians as its team name. The Times is hearing that one option would be moving forward with something like Cleveland Baseball Team while the organization figures out a new name.

There is still no word on what the Washington Football Team is considering for alternatives. There’s been talk of sticking with the WFT name, but more will be sorted out this coming offseason.