Dark times at Redskins Park

There’s never a dull moment at Redskins Park even if it won’t be called that much longer.

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July 13 saw a surprise announcement of retiring the Redskins name after decades of protests claiming it denigrated American Indians. But by week’s end, a report of 15 female team employees and media members being sexually harassed made the name change seem like an afterthought.

And, of course, there’s always uncertainty over training camp’s start because of the deadly global pandemic.

The name change was surprising if only because owner Dan Snyder has resisted change before, even declaring he would never do so. That the protests often seem to come from people who were offended on behalf of others and not American Indians themselves drew little sympathy from many of the team’s fans.

But if there’s one thing Snyder responds to its corporate dollars. He was used to low attendance figures in recent years. That opposing fans filled many seats and tickets comprise only 15 percent of many NFL team revenues made few fans matter little to Snyder. But national chains pulling merchandise from shelves and FedEx threatening to take its name off the stadium and suddenly you have the attention of the owner who has been vacationing on his yacht for months in Europe.