It seems like the Washington Commanders are still figuring out their place in the world, literally. During their season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, the team was selling mugs with the "W" logo in the middle of an outline of Washington state.
While the casual fan might overlook this detail, a simple Google search will tell you that the Commanders play their home games in Maryland, but represent Washington D.C., not the state on the other side of the country. Pictures on social media showed the unfortunate marketing mistake happening in an official team truck.
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
After the mug incident went viral on social media, those in charge tried to minimize the damage by making the issue disappear. The mugs were removed from the display window in the truck, but at that point a lot of people had already noticed the mishap. This is probably not how the team wanted to start their first season with their new official name.
The mugs were sold by the official team truck (note the NFL logo) right outside the team shop. They have since been removed, the volunteers working the truck said. https://t.co/ZnXJvHVz97 pic.twitter.com/9GWaEaEjxX
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) September 11, 2022
The Commanders released their new name after an 18-month rebranding process in which they had referred to themselves as The Washington Football Team -- a generic name that had also made them the target of many jokes. All of that happened after the team retired the "Redskins" moniker that had been associated with the franchise since 1933.
Although the Commanders lost on the merchandise area, they did get a win on the football field that day. They took a 28-22 victory over the Jaguars at FedEx Field to start the 2022 NFL season 1-0. Unfortunately, they also reportedly lost a player for the rest of the season when defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis suffered a torn meniscus in the first quarter.
Up next, the Commanders are traveling to Detroit to take on the Lions for another Sunday afternoon game on Sept. 18.
