Washington Commander NFL Name Leaked in Viral Video Viewed 2.5M Times

A video appearing to leak the new name for the Washington Football Team has gone viral with over 2.5 million views on Twitter.

The video was posted by photojournalist Brad Freitas to his Twitter page on Tuesday evening. The footage is taken from an aerial position and zooms in at a window at the Washington Football Team's stadium, the FedEx Field.

The window appears to show a cutout or poster of the NFL team's new name, the Washington Commanders.

Earlier this week, former Washington quarterback Joe Theismann appeared to reveal the name change to Commanders ahead of the official announcement.

On Monday, while speaking on The DA Show, he told the host he hopes fans will come to love the name Commanders.

"I think the Commanders is a name that people are going to be talking about going forward," he said.

"There were so many different options, but once again, it is trademark infringement, it is getting approval from different people.

"There are so many things that you have to consider, Commanders is basically Washington, DC, a lot of commanders in Washington and the Pentagon and a lot of different branches of the service. That is the way I am looking at it, positions of leadership when it comes to the new name.

He added: "If you win, people are going to get excited about [the name], if you lose people are going to be upset about it.

"That is the bottom line in our business, if you win then people will say 'I like that, I can cheer for that, go Commanders.' If you lose, it is like 'why did they do that, I am not happy with that name.'"

This comes ahead of the football team's announcement of the name change this week Wednesday. The new name announcement was intended to bring an end to the controversy surrounding the team's prior name, which was deemed native to Native Americans.

On July 13, 2020, the team retired the franchise's old name after growing pressure and a national backlash. The team's name was then temporarily changed to the Washington Football team.

At the time, the team issued a press release saying they would be retiring the name and would hope to find a replacement that fans, sponsors and the community could get behind.

"On July 3rd, we announced the commencement of a thorough review of the team's name. That review has begun in earnest," the statement read.

"As part of this process, we want to keep our sponsors, fans and community apprised of our thinking as we go forward.

"Today, we are announcing we will be retiring the Redskins name and logo upon completion of this review.

"Dan Snyder and Coach Rivera are working closely to develop a new name and design approach that will enhance the standing of our proud, tradition rich franchise and inspire our sponsors, fans and community for the next 100 years."

Newsweek has contacted the Washington Football Team for comment.