He boycotted Nike over Colin Kaepernick. Now his store is closing
By Jacob Bogage
February 15, 2019 — 9.45amDenver: Stephen Martin heard all the arguments defending NFL players who protested against social injustice and police brutality. He even understood them, to an extent.
"There is social injustice in the criminal justice system," Martin said. "Oh my God, Trayvon [Martin], Rodney King. These things are documented and filmed."
But Martin, who owns a sports merchandise store in Colorado Springs called Prime Time Sports, couldn't wrap his head around players kneeling during the national anthem.
. . .
Three years ago, he canceled an autograph signing with Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall after Marshall joined the ranks of protesting players. Around the same time, he asked customers and Facebook friends and friends of Facebook friends to send photographs of active duty members of the military or veterans.
More:
https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/he-boycotted-nike-over-colin-kaepernick-now-his-store-is-closing-20190215-p50xz6.html
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FEBRUARY 14, 2019 2:27PM ET
Prime Time Sports is paying the ultimate price for boycotting Nike after the brand featured Colin Kaepernick in a commercial
By RYAN BORT
People walk by a Nike advertisement featuring Colin Kaepernick on display
Mark Lennihan/AP/REX/Shutterstock
As President Trump continues to drive a wedge between conservative and liberal America, both sides have taken extreme lengths to exert their dominance over their ideological enemies. For those on the right, this often involves harming or embarrassing themselves to varying degrees. In an effort to “own the libs,” Trump supporters have catered Papa John’s pizza to their weddings (to support the Papa after he said sales were dipping because of NFL player protests); smashed their coffee makers (after Keurig pulled its advertising from Sean Hannity’s Fox News show) and canceling their Netflix subscriptions (after the streaming service signed a deal with the Obamas). There are plenty more examples.
The phenomenon took new life last September when Nike released an advertisement starring Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback who became one of the biggest villains of the #MAGA sect for starting a movement to kneel during the national anthem prior to games in protest of police brutality. “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything,” the ad read, a reference to Kaepernick’s inability to land a job in the NFL as a result of the controversy. Conservatives weren’t happy, and several videos sprang up on social media of people burning their Nike gear. In one particularly sad case, a man cut the Nike logos off of his socks.
Stephen Martin, the owner of Prime Time Sports in Colorado Springs, Colorado, took it a step further, announcing that his store would stop carrying Nike merchandise. The brand’s market dominance meant a downturn was inevitable, but the store was hit far harder than Martin expected. This week he announced that after 21 years in business, he will close the doors for good. “Being a sports store without Nike is kind of like being a milk store without milk or a gas station without gas,” he told Colorado Springs station KOAA. “How do you do it? They have a monopoly on jerseys.”
More:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/sporting-goods-store-nike-kaepernick-794773/
