In a surprising move, the University of Colorado has declined participation in a T-shirt campaign promoting “Celebrate America” ahead of their Big 12 clash with Texas Tech. As they head to Lubbock’s Jones AT&T Stadium with high stakes for the championship game, the gesture was meant to underpin the event—selling special edition shirts to benefit military veterans.
While the Red Raider Outfitter had all systems go from Texas Tech with quick approval for the charity initiative, Colorado put the brakes on. Store owner Stephen Spiegelberg expressed disappointment: “Texas Tech was ecstatic about it and we received an immediate yes from Texas Tech Athletics and we were waiting on the University of Colorado to approve the shirt,” he said to KCBD News.
Colorado repeatedly rejected proposals, asserting disinterest even after design modifications were made. Spiegelberg said, “Multiple times we reached out and the only message we got back from Colorado on multiple occasions was ‘not interested.’
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“We had some people reach out and ask them why. We made some changes to the shirt as required by Colorado asking for just two helmets locking up with each other to make it a neutral shirt.
“We said ‘absolutely right’. This is about the Celebrate America game for us, it’s not about a rivalry. We made those adjustments and sent them back in and we had another response from Colorado saying ‘not interested’.
“At that point, we pressed a little bit more and we were told they won’t be licensing a product that had an American flag on it in conjunction with their logos or our logos. We were given the opportunity to remove the American flag off of the shirt and we absolutely refused to.”
Colorado denies that its refusal to license the shirt had anything to do with the use of the American flag. A spokesman said: “We get requests to use our marks and often decline for any number of reasons. In this case, the decision was unrelated to the ‘Celebrate America’ theme.
Shedeur Sanders and Colorado head to Lubbock on Saturday after winning five of their past six games (
(Image: Getty))
“Our standards are consistently applied and are based on widely accepted licensing and trademark best practices used by national and global brands.”
Spiegelberg stands by his claims, with Red Raider Outfitter deciding not to sell any merchandise with Colorado trademarks this weekend so that the university would not receive any money from sales. He says the store will still make a donation to Lubbock’s Monument of Courage.
Meanwhile, on the field, an intriguing match is expected between two of the Big 12’s top contenders. No.21 Colorado (6-2) has won five of its past six games, while Texas Tech (6-3) rebounded from tough losses to Baylor and TCU with a one-point win over previously unbeaten Iowa State last week.
