Jamie Nye: CFL fans should start getting used to saying Edmonton Empire

The Edmonton Eskimos have an easy decision to make.

I like the Edmonton Empire.

The team made sure to put in all the work on trademarking a new name as it went through the process of connecting with the north to figure out if the Eskimos moniker was offensive.

There are people who represent the Inuit who say change it and then there are those in the same community who say don’t.

Edmonton paid more attention to the latter and it’s coming back to bite the organization.

Now a sponsor for Edmonton’s CFL team is threatening to pull money if the team doesn’t change its name.

A few years ago, the Swift Current Indians of the Western Major Baseball League changed their name to the 57’s and they said something interesting when they did so: They wanted to be proactive rather than reactive.

Edmonton had that same opportunity and missed. Now changing from Eskimos to Empire should be a no-brainer.