Indians Owner Expects Chief Wahoo Issue To Be Resolved In A Couple Of Years

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has been waging a rather tepid war against the Cleveland Indians in an attempt to get the team to abandon its racist Chief Wahoo logo. The team has previously been dodgy when asked to elaborate on when and if something might actually be done about the logo, but team owner Paul Dolan got slightly more specific than usual while answering questions at a recent event.

The Cleveland Jewish News reports that Dolan addressed the Chief Wahoo controversy while taking questions at the Temple Emanu El Brotherhood’s 27th annual Sports Night on May 3. From their report:

“Some want to keep (Wahoo), some want to get rid of him, but the issue is not going to go. We are mindful that there are people who are offended by it, and frankly if you leave Northeastern Ohio, it changes, the prospective on this changes. We were on some path towards a middle ground, I don’t know what that path was, and that’s still where we’re headed, but we’re headed there faster than we’ve ever liked because the commissioner of baseball weighed in on this.” Dolan said Manfred had reached out to the franchise about its logo, particularly after a Canadian lawsuit was filed against the team and MLB for using the logo during the playoffs against the Toronto Blue Jays in October. Dolan said he favors a reduced use of Wahoo without eliminating the logo, but he suspects the logo will be resolved one way or the other within a couple of years.

It’s not exactly clear why it would take a couple of years to finally abandon a plainly racist logo, but the fact that Dolan at least appears to be leaning towards getting rid of Wahoo once and for all is somewhat encouraging.

[ Cleveland Jewish News]