Native Americans protest before the Minnesota Vikings and Washington game in Minneapolis. (Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)

Maybe all that letter sending is paying off, after all. Deadspin reports that, so far this season, NFL broadcasters are saying the Washington football team’s name a lot less than they did at this point last season.

Despite how much the campaign to change the Washington football team’s name has grown in the past year, the facts remain that nearly every poll shows most people don’t think the team should change their name. But this recent bit of news suggest that the growing pressure to change the team’s name might be a significant impact.

Deadspin went through the scripts of broadcasts for NFL games in the first two weeks of this season and last season and found that, while the team’s name was said 186 times this time last year, it’s only been said 67 times so far this season. Moreover, the mention of “Washington” has increased from 156 times last year to 169 times so far this year.

Though, as Deadspin rightly points out, Washington did open Monday Night Football last year, which would account for the higher numbers in last year’s transcripts.

Obviously, it’s impossible to directly attribute this to the efforts of the Change the Mascot campaign, which, since officially launching last year, has been at the forefront of the Washington football team name change controversy. But considering all the campaign’s strategies, among them includes sending letters to every TV and radio sports broadcaster urging them not to use the team’s name during broadcasts, it’s hard to deny that their efforts are somewhat effective.

But of course, none of this matters. There’s one person who has the power to change the team’s name: Dan Snyder. And, well, we all know how he feels about the issue. Still, it’s statistics like these that suggest the tides are starting to turn.