DC Mayor: Redskins name change must be discussed if team moves

Washington's mayor says if the Redskins want to relocate inside city limits they'll have to either change their name, or at the very least, be open to the suggestion.

The name of the team -- which dates back to the 1930s -- has been a hotbed of controversy for about as long as the team has been in existence. Many find the name a racial slur and have called for a change but previous owner Jack Kent Cook and current owner Daniel M. Snyder have resisted making a change.

"I think that if they get serious with the team coming back to Washington, there's no doubt there's going to have to be a discussion about that," D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said during a recent press conference, "and of course the team is going to have to work with us around that issue."

In 1992, a group of Native Americans filed a lawsuit against the football team but it was dismissed in 2009. If the Redskins do ever change their name, they wouldn't be the first team to do so. Eleven high schools and two colleges with the same moniker changed their names from Redskins to something else.

The mayor didn't go so far as to say the Redskins name is a "dealbreaker" but he did point out that the federal government, not the District, ultimately controls the land on which a new stadium would sit. The team currently plays in Landover, Md.