By Tom Withers | The Associated Press

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians are changing their name — they just don’t know to what or when.

Expressing that “it’s time,” owner Paul Dolan said that after months of internal discussions and meetings with groups, including Native Americans who have sought to have the team stop using a moniker many deem racist, the American League franchise is dropping the name it has been known by since 1915.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Dolan said: “The name is no longer acceptable in our world.”

Dolan said the team will continue to be called Indians until a new name is chosen. That “multi-stage” process is in its early stages and the team will play — and be branded — as the Indians at least through next season.

“We’ll be the Indians in 2021 and then after that, it’s a difficult and complex process to identify a new name and do all the things you do around activating that name,” Dolan said. “We are going to work at as quick a pace as we can while doing it right.

“But we’re not going to do something just for the sake of doing it. We’re going to take the time we need to do it right.”

Dolan said the team will not adopt an interim name until choosing its new one.

“We don’t want to be the Cleveland Baseball Team or some other interim name,” he said. “We will continue to be the Indians until we have identified the next name that will hopefully take us through multiple centuries.”

Cleveland’s move follows a similar decision earlier this year by the NFL’s Washington Football Team.

As Cleveland considers new names, Dolan said Tribe, the team’s popular nickname for decades, has been ruled out.

“We are not going to take a half-step away from the Indians,” said Dolan, acknowledging Tribe was an early choice. “The new name, and I do not know what it is, will not be a name that has Native American themes or connotations to it.”

The name change by the Indians is the latest by an organization reacting to a national movement, which gained momentum in the wake of widespread civil rights protests last summer, to have prejudicial names and symbols removed.

Across the south, Civil War monuments were taken down, and in some cases names were taken off buildings.

Dolan said his “awakening or epiphany” came following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died while being arrested by white Minneapolis police officers this summer.

Cleveland’s announcement was praised by Washington NFL coach Ron Rivera, who said his perspective on the issue changed after reading “The Real All-Americans,” a novel about a Native American football team.

Rivera said he received angry letters from Washington fans who were upset with the name change.

“But I’ve also gotten some notes from Native Americans that have said thank you for doing that and for respecting our wishes,” Rivera said. “The one thing I hope is that we don’t forget them. We don’t ignore them. We start paying attention to their plight and do right by them. They are Americans that do deserve the respect of us.”

Dolan anticipates there will be an equally strong reaction from Indians fans who disagree with the team’s decision.

Cleveland’s name change comes on the heels of the team removing the controversial Chief Wahoo logo from its caps and jerseys in 2019.

The team has never stopped selling merchandise bearing the grinning, cartoonish figure, but Dolan said any profits from future sales of Wahoo items will go to Native American organizations or causes supporting Native Americans.

Dolan’s family bought the Indians in 2000, and even then he said he knew Chief Wahoo “was problematic.”