There has been a lot of speculation about the new team name for the Washington NFL team formerly named the Redskins. For much more than a year, people guessed what the NFL team would be called, and this morning it was revealed that the team would be known as the Washington Commanders.
Interestingly, it was a domain name transfer that put Commanders on the radar of many people. When Commanders.com transferred to MarkMonitor, the domain protection registrar used by the NFL and many of its teams, people speculated that it was because of the impending name change for the Washington Football Team. In fact, this proved to be accurate as Commanders.com is now the website used by the Washington Commanders.
When I wrote about the Commanders.com domain name transfer, I pointed out that Commanders.com had sold via Sedo in July of 2021 for $20,000. The sale was recorded on NameBio. Because of Whois privacy, I am not sure if the domain name was acquired by the NFL team, but I assume it was. At just $20,000, it did not come close to cracking the list of the top domain name sales of 2021. In fact, it wasn’t even in the top 10 public domain name sales the week it was reported, according to DNJournal.
Had the NFL team announced its new Commanders brand before securing the Commanders.com domain name, it likely would have had to pay substantially more. Jamie Zoch pointed this out today:
Commanders saved a couple hundred grand by doing the right thing… buying the exact match .com domain Commanders․com BEFORE they brand as it and making the term more popular. Got it for $20K instead of AT LEAST $200K or more. Startups should wake up and do the same.
— Jamie Zoch (@DotWeekly) February 2, 2022
I don’t think the Washington NFL team is known for making good decisions. In the case of its domain name acquisition, securing Commanders.com well in advance of the rebrand was smart.
I made the mistake recently of not researching before giving out a price, had I only did a simple google search I would of asked for double or triple. I still made good money, from $20 purchase to $18k but could of gotten so much more. I get too many inquiries and it was late and I was tired. Big mistake!
Always perform a basic Google Search before selling a domain name with an in-bound inquiry.
Rangers.com sold for $375K in (2015) equivalent to $441k in (2022).
Actually, it was known that Commanders was on a short list of 8 names for at least a year.
This was a seriously great clearance acquisition for Washington Commanders.
Having been a die hard Redskin fan from birth, I owned a few names from a few years ago like WashingtonHogs.org and TheHogs. The Redskins won all three of their Super Bowls behind an offensive line called “The Hogs”. I like the new name and just finished hand regging;
CommanderPizza.com
CommanderTravel.com
CommanderPlumbing.com
CommanderBistro.com
CommanderMortgage.com
Total cost for these five names was $45…..Go Commanders!!!
I’m a DC native and those were some great pickups Randy! New businesses will definitely capitalize on the new name quickly
Thanks Joel…i was born in DC in 1947. Live in Va. Beach now but still have plenty of connections. I just bought CommanderLiquor.com as well. With as many liquor stores in the District of Columbia someone might want to buy it? Own CommanderInsurance too and thinking of buying CommanderDomains. Hail to the Commanders!!!
As a DC native, you did some great pickups with those domains Randy!
Bengals will win the Super Bowl because it is the year of the Tiger
Thanks for sharing “year of the Tiger” I’ve owned the domain “BetheTiger” for about three years now and maybe I should try and sell it at the Super Bowl. I’ll be rooting for those Bengal Tigers, and Joe Cool☺
WashingtonCommanders.com is available.
For years I thought Dan Snyder and Papa John were the same man.
Please are getting smarter about domain names and their importance. This was the right way to do it. Congratulations to them for having someone on the team that was in a position to make this decision. Ten years ago it would not have went this way and would have cost them greatly. Good for them. That’s the way to get it done.