Edmonton’s CFL Team Dropping “Eskimos” From Name

The Edmonton Eskimos, a Canadian Football League team, announced that they will be dropping “Eskimos” from its name. The organization said in a release the team will be “known as the Edmonton Football Team or the EE football Team,” while a new name comes to fruition.

“Our team has a long history of winning – both on and off the field – and we will continue to do so going forward,” Janice Agrios, Chair of the Board of Directors, said in a press release. “We feel it is important to make this change in response to the findings of our recent engagement and research. Going forward, we want the focus to be on the work we do in the community and our team’s excellence on the field as the CFL’s most successful franchise.”

The team changes its name despite the team’s involvement in a three-year research process regarding the name change with partners and members of the Inuit community yielding “no consensus to support a name change.”

The CFL has not yet announced when it will return amid the coronavirus pandemic.