The theme of “Celebrate America” was decided upon for this Saturday’s clash between the Texas Tech Raiders and Big 12 newcomer the Colorado Buffaloes. However, the tee shirt campaign never got off the ground because Colorado allegedly decided they were “not interested.”
A special gameday theme is chosen before each Red Raider home game. Red Raider Outfitter then makes tee shirts emblazoned with the selected theme. Stephen Spiegelberg, the owner of Red Raider Outfitter, says the process for developing the theme and the shirts to accompany it occurs months before the game.
According to KCBD, when Spiegelberg approached Texas Tech about the shirt, the school quickly approved it. However, Spiegelberg said that when he approached Colorado, the school told him they were “not interested.”
Spiegelberg reportedly made some adjustments to the design, but Colorado still declined.
“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,” he said.
Spiegelberg says he was given an opportunity to create a design without the flag, but he refused.
“At this point with our fanbase, we decided we would not be selling any type of Colorado merchandise in the store with the logo,” Spiegelberg said, according to KCBD. “We refuse to do that because Colorado would receive financial benefit from those shirts. And we don’t think that anybody has the right to limit the use of the American flag in this great nation.”
Colorado claims that its decision not to participate in the “Celebrate America” initiative had nothing to do with the theme or the American flag.
In a statement obtained by KCBD, a Colorado spokesperson 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.
“Our standards are consistently applied and are based on widely accepted licensing and trademark best practices used by national and global brands.”
According to KCBD, Spiegelberg provided a copy of a message he claims was sent from Colorado earlier this week, stating, “We don‘t do many designs with flag elements combined with our marks. We’d prefer not to participate in this.”
Despite the lack of shirts, Spiegelberg says Red Raider Outfitter will donate to Lubbock’s “Monument of Courage,” consistent with the tradition of donating proceeds from “Celebrate America” week to charities benefiting veterans and the military.
