"If I was the owner of the team - even if it had a storied history - and its name offended a group of people, I'd think about changing it."

That was US President Barack Obama's take on the polemic surrounding bids to change the team name of the NFL's Washington Redskins.

The term 'Redskins' might not be used in a negative light by the team, but it is still considered a racial slur by some Native American who find it offensive.

In addition, a growing number of football commentators and writers have refused to use the term including NBC's Bob Costas.

But the team's owner Daniel Snyder has refused to budge on the issue thus far.

Daniel Snyder

Last night Off The Ball spoke to ESPN panelist and sports columnist Professor Kevin Blackistone to discuss the impasse.

"There is no question that the word 'Redskin' is described in Merriam Webster's dictionary here in the States as offensive and a slur," said Blackistone.

"It's only now that people have become more sensitized to the term. There is a new legal challenge to the trademark so that has opened some eyes to it. Also a number of people in a number of different corners are now talking about, who really haven't talked about it before. Obviously this is the first time a sitting President has ever commented on the issue. There are a number of people in the journalism world who have now joined a quiet chorus that began in the early 80s by saying they would not use the term when writing about the team. I stopped doing so in the 90s."

Kevin Blackistone

Yet, Blackistone admits that most polls show the American public do not find the term offensive. Even a large proportion of Native Americans are not concerned by the word according to polls.

But Blackistone points out that the Native population was so decimated and is so small that it cannot make itself heard effectively on this issue.

Blackistone was born and raised in Washington and grew up as a Redskins fan but it was about 20 years ago when the impact of the name first resonated with him.

"Native Americans have gone from being the majority in this continent to being a very small minority. But it wasn't until 1992 when I was going to the Superbowl between the Buffalo Bills and the Washington Redskins that I saw protest going on against the name a couple of blocks from the stadium. That was the first time I ever thought about it in that particular context. Then I looked at the history of the word and how it's been used to see how people in Native lands would be offended by the use of the word."

But can the Redskins' owner be compelled to change the name?

"Snyder isn't going to change. He was sounding like the old segregationist Governor George Wallace who stood up and said 'segregation now, segregation forever'. Synder said he would never, ever change the name. It's going to have to be done by a legal case. So what will the branch of the government that grants trademarks do when this matter gets to its desk? I'm probably in the minority in thinking that the trademark commission will make a change."

But the Redskins have a murky history when it comes to the treatment of minorities as Blackistone and Joe Molloy discussed. The team's owner from 1932 to 1969, George Preston Marshall, was a vocal supporter of segregation even amid criticism of his views.

He was the last owner in the NFL to allow African American players into a team. At the time, the Redskins were the most southerly team in the NFL and wanted to appeal to the Southern market. It took the efforts of Interior Secretary Stewart Udall and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to finally force him to sign an African American player in 1962.