{"id":106025,"date":"2026-06-19T13:54:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T17:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=106025"},"modified":"2026-06-19T13:54:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T17:54:00","slug":"elks-president-says-cfl-club-still-recovering-from-disaster-of-name-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/elks-president-says-cfl-club-still-recovering-from-disaster-of-name-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Elks president says CFL club still recovering from &#8216;disaster&#8217; of name change"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By John Korobanik As the Edmonton Elks prepare for their home opener Saturday, team president Chris Morris says the fallout from the club&#8217;s 2021 name change remains one of the biggest obstacles in rebuilding support among fans. Morris, who spent 14 seasons on Edmonton&#8217;s offensive line and won three Grey Cups with the club, said the franchise continues to deal with fallout from its 2021 name change. &#8220;It was a disaster in so many ways,&#8221; Morris said of the transition from the Eskimos to the Elks. The club changed its name after years of criticism from Inuit leaders and organizations who said the former name was offensive and outdated. The move came amid broader pressure on sports teams to abandon names viewed as racist or stereotypical. Morris said the decision&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F19%2Felks-president-says-cfl-club-still-recovering-from-disaster-of-name-change%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By John Korobanik As the Edmonton Elks prepare for their home opener Saturday, team president Chris Morris says the fallout from the club&#8217;s 2021 name change remains one of the biggest obstacles in rebuilding support among fans. Morris, who spent 14 seasons on Edmonton&#8217;s offensive line and won three Grey Cups with the club, said the franchise continues to deal with fallout from its 2021 name change. &#8220;It was a disaster in so many ways,&#8221; Morris said of the transition from the Eskimos to the Elks. The club changed its name after years of criticism from Inuit leaders and organizations who said the former name was offensive and outdated. The move came amid broader pressure on sports teams to abandon names viewed as racist or stereotypical. Morris said the decision... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F19%2Felks-president-says-cfl-club-still-recovering-from-disaster-of-name-change%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Elks president says CFL club still recovering from &#039;disaster&#039; of name change - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/elks-president-says-cfl-club-still-recovering-from-disaster-of-name-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elks president says CFL club still recovering from &#039;disaster&#039; of name change - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By John Korobanik As the Edmonton Elks prepare for their home opener Saturday, team president Chris Morris says the fallout from the club&#8217;s 2021 name change remains one of the biggest obstacles in rebuilding support among fans. Morris, who spent 14 seasons on Edmonton&#8217;s offensive line and won three Grey Cups with the club, said the franchise continues to deal with fallout from its 2021 name change. &#8220;It was a disaster in so many ways,&#8221; Morris said of the transition from the Eskimos to the Elks. The club changed its name after years of criticism from Inuit leaders and organizations who said the former name was offensive and outdated. The move came amid broader pressure on sports teams to abandon names viewed as racist or stereotypical. Morris said the decision\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/elks-president-says-cfl-club-still-recovering-from-disaster-of-name-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-19T17:54:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/19\\\/elks-president-says-cfl-club-still-recovering-from-disaster-of-name-change\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/19\\\/elks-president-says-cfl-club-still-recovering-from-disaster-of-name-change\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Elks president says CFL club still recovering from &#8216;disaster&#8217; 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