CBS Sports President says use of Washington ‘Redskins’ will be up to announcers

By Andrew Coppens | Jul 17, 2014

Jan 29, 2013, New Orleans, LA, USA; CBS Sports broadcast team poses at Super Bowl XLVII press conference at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Front row: Dan Marino (left), Sean McManus (center) and Phil Simms. Back row (from left) Shannon Sharpe and Bill Cowher and James Brown and Boomer Esiason and Jim Nantz. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

The NFL offseason has seen its share of headline-grabbing moments, but one of the most talked about has been the embattled nickname for Daniel Snyder’s Washington Redskins.

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Newspapers have banned the term, the United States Patent Office has stripped the copyright for the team and there were commercials put out advocating for the changing of the Redskins name.

However, one sports entity that won’t be joining in the fray of banning the use of the name will be NFL rights holder, CBS Sports. Its president, Sean McManus told the Hollywood Reporter that it won’t tell announcers to not use the word.

"“We haven’t talked to them yet. Generally speaking, we do not tell our announcers what to say or not say. Up to this point, it has not been a big issue for us. Last year, it was simmering; now it’s reaching a hotter level. But we probably will not end up dictating to our announcers whether they say Redskins or don’t say Redskins.”"

It seems that McManus isn’t about censoring what his announcers chose to say to a major degree. However, one has to wonder if there will be a uniform policy that will be in place when it comes to this controversy.

Having one announcer using the term and another not can add unnecessary fuel to the fire and could make for extremely awkward broadcasts as well.

McManus left the door open to having a discussion about the topic closer the start of the season though, giving himself an out should there be changes in the ongoing saga over the Redskins nickname.

“There are times when something becomes important enough that we talk to them, and between now and the start of football season we’ll decide what is the right thing to do.”