The theme for this Saturday's matchup between the Texas Tech Raiders and Big 12 newcomer Colorado Buffaloes has been decided to be “Celebrate America.” However, the T-shirt campaign never got off the ground because the state of Colorado decided it was “not interested.”
A special game day theme will be selected before each Red Raider home game. Red Raider Outfitter creates t-shirts featuring your chosen theme. Red Raider Outfitter owner Steven Spiegelberg said the development process for the theme and accompanying shirt takes place several months before the game.
According to KCBDSpiegelberg approached Texas Tech about the shirt, and the school quickly approved it. But Spiegelberg said he approached Colorado State and was told the school was “not interested.”
Spiegelberg reportedly made some tweaks to the design, but Colorado still rejected it.
“At that point, we applied a little more pressure and were told that they would not license any product with the American flag on it,” he said.
Spiegelberg said he was given the opportunity to create a design without the flag, but declined.
“At this point with our fan base, we have decided that we will no longer sell any type of Colorado merchandise with the logo in our stores,” Spiegelberg said, according to KCBD. “We reject it because the state of Colorado would benefit economically from those shirts. And we believe that no one has the right to restrict the use of the Stars and Stripes in this great nation. I'm thinking about it.
Colorado insists its decision not to participate in the Celebrate America initiative has nothing to do with the theme or the Star Spangled Banner.
In a statement obtained by KCBD, a Colorado spokesperson said: In this case, the decision had nothing to do with the theme of “Celebrating America.”
“Our standards are consistently applied and 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 claimed was sent from Colorado earlier this week, saying: We don't want to participate in this. ”
Despite the shirt shortage, Spiegelberg said that in keeping with the tradition of donating proceeds from Celebrate America week to charities benefiting veterans and the military, Red Raider Outfitter said it would donate to the Monument to Courage in Lubbock.
