Los Angeles (AFP) - Cleveland's Major League Baseball team confirmed on Monday it will drop its long-held "Indians" name after protests from fans and Native American groups who regard the moniker as racist.
Cleveland confirmed the change, which had been widely reported on Sunday, in a statement on Twitter. The club has yet to decide on a replacement name for the "Indians" tag adopted in 1915.
"The Cleveland Indians today announced our decision to begin the process of changing from our team name 'Indians'," the team said.
"Since July we have conducted an extensive process to learn how our team name affected different constituencies and whether it aligned with our organizational values.
"As a result of that process, we have decided to move forward with changing the current team name and determining a new, non-Native American based name for the franchise.
"We believe our organization is at its best when we can unify our community and bring people together -- and we believe a new name will allow us to do this more fully."
Team owner Paul Dolan said the decision had been taken after consulting with Native American groups.
"We gained a deep understanding of how tribal communities feel about the team name and the detrimental effects it has on them," Dolan said.
"While Indians will always be a part of our history, it is time to move forward and work to unify our stakeholders and fans through a new name."
Dolan told the MLB.com website that the club wanted to "unite the community".
"There is a credible number of people in this community who are upset by our name, are hurt by our name, and there is no reason for our franchise to bear a name that is divisive," Dolan said.
It was not immediately clear when the namechange will take effect. Several US reports on Monday said the team would continue to be known as the Indians through the 2021 season.
Cleveland's move mirrors a decision taken by the NFL's Washington Football Team, who dropped their old team name, deemed to be offensive to Native Americans, earlier this year.
The Washington decision came during a period of nationwide soul-searching over issues of race in the United States following the death of unarmed Black man George Floyd during his arrest by police in Minneapolis in May.
Cleveland's decision was criticised by President Donald Trump on Sunday.
"Oh no! What is going on? This is not good news, even for 'Indians'. Cancel culture at work!" Trump wrote on Twitter.
The NHL's Chicago Blackhawks, Atlanta Braves of MLB and Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL are other pro clubs that use Native American names and logos.
The Blackhawks have ruled out any changes to the team's name and logo, arguing it honors a Native American.
