"We absolutely refused it" - TX company owner shares blunt response to Deion Sanders' Colorado's alleged bid to pull the American flag from merch
Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders achieved one of his primary aims of the season when he led his team to bowl eligibility for the first time in eight years. This milestone was reached after beating the Cincinnati Bearcats in Week 9 of college football action.
The Buffs then had a bye week ahead of a titanic clash on the road against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Week 11 of college football action.
The game was tagged with controversy when Red Raider Outfitter, a company that produces gameday shirts for every Texas Tech game, accused the Buffaloes of rejecting their designs. They claimed it was due to the presence of an American flag.
Stephen Spiegelberg, owner of the company, revealed via an interview on "Libs of TikTok" that he refused to remove the American flag as requested by the Buffs.
"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,” Spiegelberg said.
“At this point with our fanbase, we decided we would not be selling any type of Colorado merchandise in the store with the logo. We absolutely refused it because Colorado would receive financial benefits 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.”
After the story broke, a spokesperson for Colorado released a statement addressing the concerns leveled against Deion Sanders' team ahead of the Texas Tech Red Raiders clash.
"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," the statement read. "Our standards are consistently applied and are based on widely accepted licensing and trademark best practices used by national and global brands."
Deion Sanders terms the rest of the season "playoffs"
During his weekly news conference, Deion Sanders remarked about the aims of the Buffaloes for the rest of the season after ticking off their primary aim of being bowl-eligible.
“Every game is a playoff game to us. It’s been that way all season,” Deion Sanders said. “I think Shedeur (Sanders) made a comment early ... that every game we play is like a darn Super Bowl to people, not only to them, but to us, and it is. That’s the way we’re going into it.
“Every game is a playoff, a single-elimination tournament. We’re planning on approaching all of them with passion, with purpose, with consistency, with focus and a dog-like attitude.”
The Colorado Buffaloes have improved defensively as well after Deion Sanders promised to hire professionals following the 4-8 end to the 2023 season. Coach Prime hired defensive coordinator Robert Livingstone from the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Buffs conceded 34.8 points per game last season, a number that has dropped to 22 points this season, illustrating Colorado's improvement.