Indians seek input about their logo

Posted by Mike Florio on October 23, 2013, 6:39 PM EDT

Proponents of the Redskins name fear that changing it will be the first step in an effort to change all other team names based on Native Americans and, ultimately, any other humans or animals or plants.  Or minerals.

That process hasn’t begun yet, but the Cleveland Indians have addressed concerns regarding the cartoonish “Chief Wahoo” logo by seeking input from fans as part of a broader online survey.

According to CrainsCleveland.com (via SportsBusiness Daily), the survey asks whether fans agree or disagree with the following statements:  “This logo reflects the heritage of the Indians”; “I feel a strong positive emotional connection to this logo”; “This logo makes me proud of the Indians”; “This logo represents more than the team — it represents the city of Cleveland”; “This logo is an important part of my support for the Indians.”

While the option to disagree exists for each statement, each statement is crafted in a way that paints the logo in a positive way.  The logo wasn’t painted in a positive way during the playoffs, when a handful of fans painted their faces red.

No one has suggested that the name “Indians” should be changed.  Some have argued that the logo is potentially offensive to Native Americans.

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24 responses to “Indians seek input about their logo”

  5. This seems like too rational of a idea for the tone dead Redskins to try.

    This is a war to the Redskins.

    Great tradition redskins. Last to integrate and now last to take away an offensive name.

    Change the name- stop the insanity.

    Snyder is like George Bush, he failed at almost everything but the one thing that got him in control of a big organization and both turned out to be disasters of leaders.

  11. The real test would be to see if Native Americans would portray themselves this way if given a chance. This looks like a character from an old Bugs Bunny cartoon.

  12. The survey is also broken, I just checked it out to see if there was anything else wrong with it and there is. If you select that you haven’t been to any games and aren’t planning to go to any games then you get frozen if you don’t select which month this year you attended. Leave them all blank and try to click through to the next page, you can’t!

  13. The Indians have been phasing Wahoo out anyway. Most of the time the image only appears on uniform sleeves. They wear the script I and C hats most of the time.

    The problem the Redskins and Indians will have is that there is millions of dollars of merchandise out there, and fans are going to continue to wear it. Hell, ever year the NFL is going to make them sell throw back jerseys too, so it’s never going to go away.

  15. Out here in Tucson, AZ, lots of Native Am. folks sport a Wahoo cap. I know folks that are offended by it, and others that are offended by the term “Native American.”

  16. Chief Wahoo is not offensive.
    It’s part of Cleveland’s history. Being a
    life long fan of my Cleveland Indians, I can’t
    imagine Chief Wahoo not being a part of
    the baseball team I’ve been following and
    loving since a kid!

  19. Chief Wahoo is an affectionate cartoon. A fun thing. It means no harm or derogatory feeling toward anyone.

    It belongs to Cleveland sports fans and we intend to keep it.

  20. The Indians’ logo is absurdly offensive to the point of being a minstrel show. Chief Wahoo as a name is alone a massive cut at the names Indian tribes attribute to Chiefs. No, I’m not a PC sensationalist at all, I am a voice of reason. Look at this logo objectively and tell me if it resembles any other pro sports logo.

  21. Way to attempt to divert attention away from the NFL’s Washington Redskins problem.

    No wonder you flood this site with so much bill belichick stuff…. you are a lot alike.

    Washington has a problem -> Flip it to Cleveland

    Belichick cheats with pushing -> Flip it to Rex Ryan

  22. How is the cartoonish Chief Yahoo any different than the cartoonish fighting Irishman logo for Notre Dame? If Native Americans are offended by an smiling Indian cartoon then why wouldn’t Irish-Americans not be offended by the sterotype that they are mad & fighting? Oh wait…nevermind…I get it.

  24. The difference between Chief Wahoo and the Redskins is night and day and there is no comparison. Chief Wahoo is clearly a racist and disparaging character/mascot but the Redskins are clearly not. Wahoo was not done to honor Native Americans that is clear but Redskins clearly honors Native Americans with a proud, noble and authentic rendition of a Native American in it’s logo. Yes, I agree that Chief Wahoo is pretty much offensive and disparaging to them (and I am a man of Cherokee Heritage) but I wouldn’t ask them to change it. Just grow thicker skins and realize it’s just a baseball team and c’mon man no body in Cleveland hates Native Americans… It’s a baseball team that employees people of all colors, creeds, ethnicity, religions, sexes whatever. Yeah, I can see why Chief Wahoo may offend some folks but it’s harmless. The Indians will probably get rid of Wahoo anyway because he only makes the team $20 million a year in sales and that’s peanuts to them. If Wahoo made the team $100 million + they would just keep igoreing any outrage. $20 million in merchandising sales is sales probably isn’t enough to justify Wahoo’s existence. Probably not enough to deal with the pressure to change it. Redskins on the other hand is a totally different topic, not even CLOSE to Chief Wahoo, not even CLOSE.

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