Amid all the excitement surrounding the Washington Commanders proposed return to the DC area, there are inevitably pockets of resistance and frustration.

One of the first, obvious, questions addressed by managing partner Josh Harris in the wake of Tuesday’s announcement that the Commanders had signed an agreement to build their next stadium on the site of former home RFK Stadium returned to the subject of the team’s name — and whether it, too, would revert for old times’ sake. According to sources, congressional lawmakers offered support for the team’s return to its old stomping ground ‘on the condition that the team and NFL would honour the old Redskins logo’,

“We have good discussions with the NFL and with the Commanders,” Republican senator Stephen Daines said back in November. “There’s good faith in negotiations going forward that’s going to allow this logo to be used again — perhaps revenues going to a foundation that could help Native Americans in sports and so forth. The irony is that they were cancelling Native American culture as the DEI movement went way too far. This [would be] honouring a Blackfeet chief born in Montana. He is highly esteemed [and] the Blackfeet tribe of Montana, their current chairman and tribal council, signed a letter in strong support to bring the logo back.”

Harris, however, appears unmoved.

“The Commanders’ name actually has taken on an amazing kind of element in our building,” he told Fox News’ Bret Baier. “So, the players that are tough, that love football, are delegated Commanders — Jayden [Daniels], for example, is a Commander. And, you know, the business staff has gotten into it. Obviously, we’re in a military city here — there’s more military personnel here than anywhere else — so we’re kind of moving forward with the Commanders name. We’re excited about that — and not looking back.”

Harris and Washington mayor Muriel Bowser announced that a deal for the Commanders to return to the campus on which RFK Stadium stands, although everything still hinges on the approval of DC City Council, but the team owner a least appears to favour keeping the name of the venue intact should the green light be given.

“We’re going to get as close to our heritage as we can, right?” he noted. “So, I think that name should be a part of it.”

‘Good faith’ was also a phrase used by Maryland governor Wes Moore when reacting to the news of the Commanders’ likely relocation, as he insisted that all avenues had been explored to keep the team at its current home in Landover.

“We made what I think is not just a good faith, but a very strong, offer for them,” Moore said. “But they were just very clear that they wanted the Washington Commanders in Washington, DC And I get it — you have an ownership group that paid a lot of money for that team, and I understand that. They wanted to return the team to its spiritual home.”

While Harris expects construction on the new stadium to begin in 2027 and be completed by 2030, the Commanders are expected to keep playing at Northwest Stadium, before honouring a commitment to tear down and redevelop the Landover site.

There is also scepticism amongst economists, as well as members of the public, that the much-heralded $2.7bn investment being made by the Commanders organsiation masks approximately $1.1bn in funds being provided by the district.

“People love parties,” sports economist Geoffrey Propheter, who studied at George Washington University, told NBC Washington. “Parties are great. Parties generate economic impact. Parties support jobs. But parties don’t make you money, and neither do football stadiums or basketball arenas. It’s there for entertainment. “

Protest group No Billionaires Playground have made it clear that they want the old RFK campus redeveloped for housing and neighbourhood amenities.

“I want the Commanders to have a great season, and I want them to win a Super Bowl,” group member Katharine Landfield told 4News, “but I want them to do it in Landover.”

(Image courtesy of Washington Commanders)