There’s an ongoing joke that the Washington Commanders don’t even play in Washington, D.C. They practice in Virginia and play in Maryland. But, those locations are at least a little closer to D.C. than the state of Washington.
This weekend, as the NFL season kicked off, one reporter on the ground at FedEx field noticed that an official Commanders merchandise kiosk was selling coffee mugs with the “W” logo over the outline of Washington—the state, not the district.
Oops.
Elsewhere at the stadium: I’m being told there are mugs with outlines of the state Washington for sale pic.twitter.com/1fzp4RrdNV
— Pete Hailey (@PeteHaileyNBCS) September 11, 2022
According to Pete Hailey of NBC Sports Washington, someone within the franchise heard about the mistake, and the mugs were pulled from the store. But, at that point, it’s already too late. Here we are discussing how the franchise missed an easy mistake to catch before the product ended up on the shelf.
Mugs now gone https://t.co/DoXPlXEbIJ pic.twitter.com/QBP6oipa7f
— Pete Hailey (@PeteHaileyNBCS) September 11, 2022
It would be more forgivable if this was the first time this happened. But, back in 2017, when the team still had its problematic name and logo, they sold license plates once again using the outline of the state of Washington. This actually made it to the official NFL Shop online.
It’s not even limited to D.C.’s football team either. The Washington Wizards (who actually do play in D.C., for the record), printed T-shirts with the team’s logo on top of—you guessed it—the state of Washington. This one could also be seen as an intentional dig at Seattle fans still bitter about the Sonics moving to Oklahoma City, leaving them without an NBA team.
Am I being especially harsh on the Commanders because I am a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan? Maybe. But it’s so easy to avoid these mistakes. This is not only elementary school-level American geography. This is a mistake that shouldn’t make it past the first pass in the design process, much less at such a high-profile franchise like an NFL team.
For it to happen multiple times within the same franchise is unbelievable. And, especially since the Commanders went so hard with their merchandise push after the rebrand, mistakes like this should not happen.
It just goes to show you that even if you’re working with a big-name company like an NFL franchise, simple mistakes still can slip through the cracks.
You should at least try to limit your franchise’s mistakes to being on the field, like choosing Carson Wentz as your starting quarterback.
Go Birds.
