Adidas offers financial support, design services for high school teams looking

With all due respect to anyone that believes all Native American imagery should be disconnected from athletic teams, using the term “Warriors” or “Indians” would appear to have a different connotation than “Redskins”.

Yesterday, adidas announced that it would be starting a program to help high schools with potentially “offensive” nicknames/mascots with a transition to a new one.

Adidas announced the initiative in conjunction with the White House Tribal Nations Conference in Washington, which includes leaders from the 567 federally recognized tribes.

Still, the company’s pro-team blind spot shouldn’t obscure the larger point of the initiative, which is to promote a more inclusive environment at the high school level.

“Sports have the power to change lives”, Adidas executive board member Eric Liedtkesaid in a statement. “They’ve really come up with a smart, creative approach, which is to say: If we can’t get states to pass laws to prohibit these mascots, then how can we incentivize schools to think differently?” Perry said the main logo used on high school uniforms is a capital letter “M”, but a few teams and booster clubs also use logos that depict the head of a Native American.

President Obama said on Thursday that professional sports teams in the US should not use Native American monikers or mascots that perpetuate stereotypes. The company said it would offer design expertise and financial help to schools interested in rebranding.

The advocacy group says about a dozen schools have dropped Native mascots over the past two years and another 20 are considering a change. “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.

The most famous team name has been the NFL’s Washington Redskins which has refused to change it despite claims that it is demeaning to Native Americans.

Lane suggested that high school sports would be the first step in Adidas’ movement to change the names of professional franchises.

The Washington Redskins’ response to Adidas is the organization’s latest public relations misstep..