CBS Sports: Use of 'Redskins' Up to Announcers

Well, probably
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 17, 2014 8:12 AM CDT
CBS Sports: Use of 'Redskins' Up to Announcers
Sean McManus, then-president of CBS News and Sports, speaks at the Council on Foreign Relations, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009 in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

CBS Sports announcers will likely be able to use the term "Redskins"—or, if they'd rather, not—during the upcoming NFL season, chairman Sean McManus says. "Generally speaking, we do not tell our announcers what to say or not say," McManus tells the Hollywood Reporter. Even as the issue is "reaching a hotter level," he adds, "we probably will not end up dictating to our announcers whether they say Redskins or don't say Redskins. We leave that up to them and our production team." Still, he leaves the door open a bit, saying, "between now and the start of football season we'll decide what is the right thing to do."

One place the Washington Redskins name will not appear? That would be in one federal judge's court documents. In his ruling on a recent lawsuit brought against the team—a suit not focusing on the team's name—Maryland Senior District Judge Peter Messitte wrote the "Pro Football's team will be referred to hereafter simply as 'the Washington Team.'" During a November hearing, Messitte was also recorded as barring the name from being spoken. WUSA 9 spoke with a law professor who said that to his knowledge, Messitte "is the first federal judge to ban the use of the word." (More Sean McManus stories.)

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