Earlier in December, the Cleveland Indians made the decision to change its team name following the 2021 season. Like they did after the Washington Football Team removed Redskins from their name before the 2020 NFL season began, the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks have come out and said they don't plan to make any changes to their name.
Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz made his team's sentiment very clear in a statement on Thursday.
"Obviously respect the decision the Cleveland Indians made to go down that path, but we continue to deepen our commitment to upholding our namesake and our brand," Wirtz said, according to the Associated Press.
Back in July, the Redskins became the Washington Football Team indefinitely (until it comes up with a new name.) Around the same time, the Blackhawks revealed that it had reviewed its name and planned to continue to honor Black Hawk, who was a Native American leader.
The Blackhawks added at the time that the team is committed "to raising the bar even higher" as far as awareness of Black Hawk and people of Native American heritage go, but noted acknowledged that there is "a fine line between respect and disrespect" and gives kudos to the teams rethinking their names.
"The work we've been doing over the last several months in expanding and deepening conversations and partnerships within the native community, we continue to feel really positive about the types of work we can do," Wirtz added on Thursday.
