The cost of changing from a racist high school team name and mascot to one that isn’t can be high.
Whoever’s in charge has to survey the community, and explore what new symbol could better represent them than their previous caricature of someone else’s heritage. There are probably snacks involved.
Adidas, unlike corporations that would normally seek to profit from this situation, is offering to help in what appears to be a constructive and useful manner.
Adidas will provide free services to help communities resolve these difficult decisions. They’re also discounting and helping to finance the costumery and signage changes that result from the choice to switch to a non-racist mascot.
In response to this well-intentioned, well-received assistance from Adidas, this quote from the Washington Redskins organization spouts vicious hyperbole:
Maury Lane, an outside team spokesman for the Redskins, issued a statement criticizing Adidas’ move.
“The hypocrisy of changing names at the high school level of play and continuing to profit off of professional like-named teams is absurd. Adidas make hundreds of millions of dollars selling uniforms to teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and the Golden State Warriors, while profiting off sales of fan apparel for the Cleveland Indians, Florida State Seminoles, Atlanta Braves and many other like-named teams,” the statement said. “It seems safe to say that Adidas’ next targets will be the biggest sports teams in the country, which won’t be very popular with their shareholders, team fans, or partner schools and organizations.”
I enjoy his last sentence. I hope they are next.