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Washington Commanders’ Team President Mark Clouse joins BMitch and JP to talk about the team’s decision to retire John Riggins’ jersey this upcoming NFL season.
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00:00B. Mitch and Finley, 106.7 The Fan.
00:03Exciting day for fans of the Burgundy and Gold all over the world.
00:08The team has officially announced that John Riggins' famous No. 44 jersey
00:12will be retired Sunday, November 8th,
00:17when the Commanders host the LA Rams,
00:19the Diesel, most iconic play in franchise history
00:22in the Super Bowl against the Dolphins.
00:23And to talk us through it is our friend,
00:27Commanders Team President, Mr. Mark Klaus.
00:28Mark, thank you so much for joining us, dude.
00:30What an exciting day.
00:31Always good to be here.
00:33I like coming with good news.
00:34Yeah, absolutely.
00:35Great news, actually.
00:36I agree, I agree.
00:37It's Diesel Day today.
00:38It is, it is.
00:39Crank up the diesel, baby.
00:41What all went into this decision for the organization?
00:44Yeah, you know, probably, you know,
00:48I feel like I'm a little bit of a broken record on this,
00:51but, you know, when Josh bought the team,
00:55there are so many things that mean so much to him
00:59and probably nothing more than the memories he has
01:04of some of the legendary players of our franchise's history.
01:10And, you know, as we started to plot, you know,
01:14our longer-range plan of really this goal of celebrating
01:19and connecting our past with our current and our present
01:23and thinking about, you know, where do we start,
01:28honestly wasn't that hard of a decision to look at what's an embarrassment
01:32of riches of legends that we have on this franchise,
01:36including present company, but it was, you know,
01:40we kind of thought Daryl, and when we thought Daryl, Art, and John,
01:44you know, these are guys that represent really the foundation
01:50of the greatest era of football that our franchise has played.
01:54And that Redskins history, you know, is such an important part
01:58to be celebrating even as we are, you know, building the Commander brand,
02:03but the idea of recognizing, you know, our roots and our legacy
02:08has been paramount to Josh, and certainly from my point of view,
02:11it's exactly what we needed to do.
02:13You know, John is this tough guy, but, you know,
02:17you've been around him long enough, you know he has a sentimental side.
02:20How did he receive this?
02:21Did he teardrop?
02:22You know, one of the things I'll just say, and I, you know,
02:25there are, you know, sometimes you need these moments
02:28and these jobs to remind yourself that you're working in sports and football,
02:32but the true highlights for me has been the opportunity
02:38to get to know some of these guys, and, you know,
02:43whether it's Daryl or Art or most recently really getting to spend
02:47some quality time with John, you know, what you see in those videos
02:53and their relationship with the fans and their recognition
02:58and the gratitude they have for what they were part of has been incredible.
03:06And, you know, if you haven't watched the video yet
03:08that came out with the announcement.
03:10Oh, it's sick.
03:10I retweeted it.
03:12And it's 100% authentic.
03:13I mean, when you talk to John, you know, even when this came up,
03:20so now it's a long-winded, long wind-up to answer your question,
03:24but his reaction really was about, you know, well, you know,
03:30who wants to talk about this?
03:32And I'm like, our fans do.
03:34And that was the magic.
03:35For him, you know, him understanding how important it is for our fans
03:40to be able to celebrate his legacy and time with the team
03:43was really the motivation.
03:45And, you know, I'm just – I couldn't be happier.
03:48You know, we brought him out to practice during OTAs.
03:53And, you know, just to watch him – I wish I had it on tape.
03:57There was – you know, he spent a few extra minutes with our running backs,
04:00and they were just talking about the game and how they approached the game.
04:03And it was just – it was amazing.
04:05And the guys were, like, you know, glued.
04:07And everybody understands the significance of John Riggins
04:11and how he played the game and what he represented.
04:13And quite frankly, it's right down the middle of the fairway
04:16with what DQ's trying to do in building culture with the team today.
04:19If anybody's looking for that video, the commanders posted it
04:21on all of their social channels.
04:23We should give credit to Jess Atkinson at 3PennyFilms
04:26because the video's awesome.
04:28I'm curious.
04:30I don't know that you got into this with John
04:33or that you, like, kind of absorbed this information
04:36as you took over into your role.
04:38But as much as many legends of the organization,
04:42including one sitting here that may agree with this,
04:45many legends of the organization really saw the relationship sour
04:49under previous ownership.
04:50And I feel like you guys immediately tried to rebuild that.
04:54And what was that process like with John to getting here?
04:58Yeah, look, I think most things in life, you know,
05:03are built to a certain degree on a foundation of trust.
05:07And I think, you know, you're not wrong.
05:11I remember, you know, when I first got into the role,
05:15I said, let's bring our legends back.
05:18And I'm thinking, you know, we're going to get five or six folks in a room
05:20and, you know, we'll talk a little bit.
05:22I had 60 people show up and, man, did I get an earful of,
05:27appropriately, an earful of what, you know,
05:30what the team wasn't doing and what we needed to do.
05:33And so it became very clear to me that we needed to really reestablish
05:40that this is, you know, that these are folks that built this place.
05:44This is, you know, what our fans, you know, react to, remember.
05:48And, you know, I like the fact that when you've got these legends
05:53around the franchise, it signals, I think, to people too
05:58that we're trying to do things the right way.
06:00But in fairness, you know, people want to see it and want to prove it.
06:05And I think for guys like John and some others,
06:08they needed to really feel comfortable that, you know,
06:12the things that Josh was saying, the things that I've been saying,
06:15that these were for real.
06:16And I think that takes a little bit of time.
06:19So it's on November 8th, a game against the Rams.
06:23Right.
06:24You have things planned for that weekend?
06:26Yeah.
06:27Anything that the fans can participate in?
06:29Yeah, we're working on that right now.
06:31As you guys will remember from last year, last two years with Daryl and Art,
06:36that weekend becomes a really celebratory event.
06:39And, you know, we had a great opportunity last year to do,
06:44during Arts, the panel conversations at the MGM.
06:49And that was awesome.
06:51Those were just amazing conversations.
06:53And so we'll work with John.
06:54We let him kind of, you know, guide the thinking.
06:58But I can tell you one thing that I know about him already.
07:00He's, you know, anything he can do to make it special for the fans,
07:04he's going to be excited about.
07:05So more to come.
07:06How do you decide on the game?
07:08How do you decide on November 8th against the Rams?
07:11Yeah, well, part of it is you've got a pretty robust kind of league-led schedule
07:15where certain games are going to be certain events.
07:17And, you know, you don't want to undermine one of those events.
07:21And, you know, we try to look at, you know,
07:24when is the logical windows to do that.
07:27You know, we try not to go too deep into the winter
07:29because you don't know.
07:31We could be standing out there in a blizzard.
07:34But, you know, for us it felt like a good period.
07:37Our schedule this year, you know,
07:39pushes the concentration of our home games a little later in the year.
07:43And so, you know, we may be a little bit later than we've been in the past,
07:47but we think it's a great game.
07:48And, you know, the Rams, you know, we know that's going to be a great game.
07:52And we're excited to have this be the backdrop and the celebration for us.
07:57What a celebration it'll be, especially with Rego.
08:00You know what I mean?
08:00Kind of this general and order.
08:02Last time he showed up, he ran out with a uniform on.
08:06You think Josh will put on a whole uniform and run down the middle of the football field?
08:11Talking with Commander's Team President Mark Klaus here.
08:13I do want to ask for some RFK updates, but I am curious on this.
08:18Like, since Josh really wrapped his hands around running the organization
08:22and since you stepped in as team president,
08:24you guys have done such an incredible job of threading the needle of embracing the past
08:29and then moving forward.
08:30And are there the crazies on social media that will still scream about the name?
08:35Sure.
08:35But, like, I think you and Josh and everybody have said,
08:38we're not going backwards with the name and we're commanders.
08:41And you've built the brand of commanders.
08:44Is there any space, especially with the new spear and stuff,
08:47for the old logo, whether it's on a helmet,
08:50not necessarily on a helmet, but, like, could it be embraced in some capacity?
08:53Look, you know, I've said this a lot of times when I'm asked the question,
08:57and, you know, there's nobody that is more proud and, you know,
09:05happy to celebrate the heritage of this team than us and then Josh
09:10and the entire ownership group and the organization.
09:13I think it's important that, you know, in the world of things I can control
09:18and the world of things I cannot control
09:20is to really try to focus on the things that I can
09:23and try to make those as positive as possible.
09:26What I will say is there continues to be a lot of emphasis
09:33on looking at things in our past, iconography, uniform.
09:37Just the uniform.
09:38Right.
09:39That we can celebrate as part of it.
09:43So, look, you know, hang in there.
09:45Stay with us.
09:46We're going to continue to look for ways in which we can do that
09:48while we continue to build, you know, the Commander brand
09:52and what we're doing with the team.
09:54And I think there's, you know, there's a lot of exciting things
09:57that we can do on both sides of that continuum
09:59as we try to, you know, bring these worlds together
10:01in a way that fans can feel.
10:04Even if you're, you know, I get it.
10:06I've said this before.
10:07I respect it.
10:08I understand it.
10:09But, man, I don't want you to miss out on this next chapter.
10:11We're going to have a lot of fun.
10:13And I want you and I want the families to be out there
10:16and be part of it.
10:16And so I'm going to do everything I possibly can
10:19to make sure that we get everybody back, you know,
10:22back together and move it in the same way.
10:24Don't worry about what was so much that you forget about what is
10:27and what can be.
10:28And trust we won't forget that.
10:29And we're going to celebrate it and we're going to do the right thing.
10:32True.
10:32Like this, like this jersey.
10:33Totally.
10:34It's words, not actions.
10:35And the actions continue to be consistent with we are going to honor our past.
10:40We know how great everything was.
10:41I think the uniform redesigns, the new, like a great example of what you're saying
10:47about like embracing the past and continuing to build are the blacks,
10:51the hail rays.
10:52Oh, yeah.
10:52I love those.
10:53Like that perfectly combines these things.
10:54Yeah.
10:55And, you know, it's interesting, you know,
11:00in the world of living in this world of brands and brand building along the way.
11:04You know, there were just some, some really clear things.
11:07Like you, you don't want to ever change a brand without bringing equity along with you
11:13from the past.
11:15And I think, you know, what we've tried to do is, is go back and correct that, right?
11:20A color palette, right?
11:21Yeah.
11:22I led Oreos.
11:22When Oreos, when it was Oreo, when you did something Oreo, that blue was the blue.
11:27Totally.
11:27You can change it.
11:27You can vary from it.
11:29And, you know, there's a variety of those things that I think are really meaningful
11:34and important to fans that, that we can absolutely continue to, to bring and integrate into what
11:39we're doing.
11:40And, you know, like I said, I just want to see, you know, fans coming along for what
11:45I think is just going to be an incredible chapter with what Dan and Adam are doing on
11:48the football side, new stadium, the, the commitment to, to what Josh is, is committed to making
11:55happen for our fans.
11:57And, you know, I just hope everyone's, you know, able to get on board and come with us.
12:02Hell, the trades Josh is pulling off with the Sixers right now.
12:05The momentum is high.
12:07Yeah.
12:08He's working though.
12:10If there's any question on commitment to winning, I don't think there's any doubt about
12:14that.
12:14Are you able to stick around one more segment and we'll talk a little stadium update?
12:17Let's do it.
12:18Tremendous.
12:18Commanders team president, Mark Clouse, sitting in studio with us.
12:22John Riggins getting his jersey retired.
12:24Let's go.
12:25Well done by the organization.
12:26Nobody go anywhere.
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