From Cleveland Indians to Cleveland Guardians: A Positive Step for the Franchise, SportsWorld and Society
By Ken Reed
Cleveland Guardians. Sure it sounds weird. Cleveland’s baseball team has been called the Indians for more than a century. But everyone will get used to it.
Most importantly, it was the right thing to do.
Yes, the name “Indians” is less egregious than the blatantly racist name Redskins that Washington’s National Football League team used until 2020. But there are still many negative ramifications from the continued use of “Indians” as a professional sports franchise’s nickname.
For example, a series of studies has found that “exposure to American Indian mascot images has a negative impact on American Indian high school and college students’ feelings of personal and community worth, and achievement-related possible selves.” The authors of that report concluded:
“We suggest that American Indian mascots are harmful because they remind American Indians of the limited ways others see them and, in this way, constrain how they can see themselves.”
That’s not good, especially since the suicide rate among Native American youth is 2.5 times the overall suicide rate.
The use of Native American names, logos and mascots by sports teams is part of an overarching problem of how native people are represented in this country, according to Cynthia Connolly, a member of the executive board of the Lake Erie Native American Council.
“We’re relegated to the historical past,” says Connolly.
“We’re feathered and leathered, rather than your co-workers, your neighbors, your classmates. As a kid, the limited ways other people see you — that starts to impact you.”
For Cleveland franchise owner Paul Dolan, who dropped the cartoonish Chief Wahoo logo from the team’s uniforms in 2018, the need to change the Indians name became necessary following the murder of George Floyd.
In an interview with League of Fans, Dolan said:
“We really weren’t ready to change the name Indians until the lightning bolt hit in the form of the George Floyd killing. We put out a statement saying we were abhorred by it and we were motivated to be a positive force for change in our community on the issues of racial equity and social justice. The epiphany for me was how do we say that with sincerity and be genuine about it when we bear the name of a group of people — many of whom don’t like us using the name and many of whom are offended by it.”
Dolan’s team began reaching out to a wide range of people in the Cleveland area and across the country for input. After six months, the franchise announced in December 2020 it would abandon the name “Indians” and that a process would begin to change the name. That process ended earlier this month with the announcement that the team’s new name would be the Cleveland Guardians.
“It was clear the name was problematic,” said Dolan. “It was actually causing damage to young people. We saw some studies on that and we had some moms talk to us about what it meant for their kids to go through that experience.”
Way back in 2005, the American Psychological Association issued a resolution calling for “the immediate retirement of American Indian mascots, symbols, images, and personalities by schools, colleges, universities, athletic teams, and organizations.” The resolution includes a comprehensive and compelling list of reasons why.
Sport is a powerful socio-cultural institution. By changing the team’s name, Dolan and his Cleveland franchise will hopefully motivate the nearly 200 schools in Ohio that still have Native American mascots. Seeing Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians change their team name to the Guardians could spur these schools to do the right thing and drop their Native American names, mascots, logos and images.
For Dolan, a Cleveland-area native, the decision to change the team’s name wasn’t an easy one, but he ultimately concluded it was a necessary one — albeit an expensive one — and one that wouldn’t be embraced by all fans.
“I grew up in the Cleveland area, so I have that attachment to the logo and name that many Cleveland fans have in some shape or form,” said Dolan. “It’s expensive changing your name. The switch over will cost us multiple millions of dollars to execute.”
Kudos to you Mr. Dolan. It’s a positive step forward for your franchise, Major League Baseball, the SportsWorld and society.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #30 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The State of College Athletics with Dr. David Ridpath: Problems and Potential Solutions – Ridpath is a sports administration professor at Ohio University and a long-time member of The Drake Group, a college sports reform think tank.
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Episode #29 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The Honorable Tom McMillen Visits League of Fans’ Sports Forum – McMillen is a former All-American basketball player, Olympian, Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Congressman. We discuss the state of college athletics today.
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world. We discuss problems in youth sports today.
Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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