The Cleveland Spiders were a Cleveland, Ohio-based professional baseball team. From 1887 through 1899, the team played in the major leagues, spending the first two seasons as a part of the now-defunct American Association (AA) and the next eleven in the National League.
The Cleveland Indians said in July that they will discuss the future of their name in the face of increased calls for social reform across the nation, after decades of defying requests to do so.
Five months later, the team announced that starting with the 2022 season, it will no longer use the name it has used since 1915. The United States Patent and Trademark Office received a number of trademark submissions for prospective new names within a few days after the initial summer announcement.
One of them was the Cleveland Spiders, who started out as the early betting favorite. Dan Snyder, the team’s owner, had previously stated that he would never change the team’s name or logo, despite years of pressure to do so since they were seen as offensive to Native Americans.
However, Snyder gave in to mounting pressure from businesses and investors, and the group declared on July 3 that a name review had started.
Ten days later, it changed its name to the Washington Football Team as a stand-in while it negotiated the tricky trademark and license landscapes.