The Washington Commanders attempted to fix the outer circle on its official crest by altering the years of their three Super Bowl titles to the Roman numerals representing each Super Bowl. The NFL reportedly denied the Commanders permission in large part because the league holds the copyrights to the Roman numerals associated with Super Bowls.
The initial report by Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, says the team is “brainstorming” on ways to present the crest on merchandise for fans.
Washington revealed the crest as part of its re-branding on Feb. 2. The crest features the years in which the Super Bowl occurred, 1983, 1988 and 1992. However, the NFL widely recognized Super Bowl championships with the year the season occurred. Therefore, the crest should have the years of 1982, 1987 and 1991 instead.
According to ESPN’s John Keim, the use of Roman numerals are “non-negotiable” but the team is free to change the years on the initial crest to the correct years, i.e. 1992 to 1991. Keim added the team can make the change now.
Seems like an easy fix, right?
Some fans on Twitter speculated the reason the Commanders won’t be quick to adhere to the league’s suggestion.
One fan wrote: “Changing the numbers to the correct ones means they admit they screwed up. I don’t see that happening. They’ll just double down and gaslight everyone that we’re crazy.”
By using Roman numerals the Commanders would be changing the crest as fans requested. But, it would be considered more of an alteration than correction.
Another option would be the team removing the outer circle. Some fans have shown how the team has done so with some merchandise. Time will tell what route the team goes for a permanent solution.
