The heat got turned up Thursday afternoon in the debate over the Washington Redskins team name.
Discussion has simmered for years, but none of the team's major sponsors had called for a change.
That changed with a statement Thursday from FedEx, which read: "We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name."
The e-mail was sent to reporters shortly after 5 p.m. entering a holiday weekend, a traditional "news dump" time, but the significance is large.
FedEx CEO Frederick Smith is a minority owner of the team, and has fended off similar attempts at a corporate position in the past.