FedEx said in a statement Thursday that it has requested the Washington Redskins to change the team's name.
“We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name," FedEx, the company with naming rights to the team's stadium, said in statement to NFL.com.
FedEx paid $205 million in 1998 to the Redskins for the team's stadium naming rights in a deal that runs through 2025. FedEx founder, chairman and CEO Frederick Smith also is a team minority owner.
Earlier Thursday, it was reported that a group of 87 investment firms and shareholders signed three separate letters to Nike, FedEx and PepsiCo to terminate relationships with the team unless it changed its name.