As pressure continues to mount on Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to change the name, the sports world’s most friendly team is willing to reach out a helping hand — for a price.
The parent company of the Harlem Globetrotters, Herschend Entertainment, owns the trademark to both the Globetrotters and their lovable loser opponent, the Washington Generals.
“We think that the Globetrotters are right up there as the most liked team in the world with Manchester United and the New York Yankees,” said spokesman Brett Meister. “Our heritage includes the Washington Generals.”
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Meister said that “we’d love for the franchise or the NFL to call us” about buying the rights. The Generals were owned by the family of Red Klotz, a member of the 1948 NBA champion Baltimore Bullets, played for the team and coached them throughout their 63 years as the Globetrotters' opponents. When Klotz died in 2014, the Globetrotters replaced the Generals with another team name, the World All-Stars.
The Globetrotters went back to playing the Generals in 2017, when Herschend bought the team’s assets.
Some might question whether Snyder would want to be associated with a name associated with losers — they only beat the Globetrotters three times (1954, 1958 and 1971), but there have been other Generals in sports, including the USFL team owned by none other than Donald Trump in the mid-80’s.
