Deion Sanders’ Colorado Legacy: a Graveyard of Discarded Marks

Sanders has abandoned 19 of the trademarks he applied for as Colorado’s coach. Will his current slew of BBQ-related applications also get smoked?Design by Sportico, Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images Deion Sanders, the University of Colorado’s $10-million-a-year football coach, arrived on the Boulder campus in December 2022 raring to turn nearly every facet of his larger-than-life persona into a marketable brand. But now in Year 4, his conversion rate from idea to registered intellectual property is looking a lot like the struggling Buffaloes’ offense. An analysis of filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows that Sanders has abandoned 19 trademarks—the lion’s share—he applied for since becoming CU’s head coach. The pattern has become something of a, yes, trademark for Sanders’ Colorado tenure: The gambits come fast and furious but don’t necessarily translate into touchdowns. Sanders has been at the trademarking game for decades, dating to his NFL stardom. In 1996, he applied to trademark “Prime Time 21” for nightclub services, but the application ultimately lapsed. In 2003, he secured a registration for “Prime Effect,” branding language that would become central to his public identity. His Rocky Mountain ambitions, however, have left behind an increasingly crowded cemetery of Prime Time pet-phrases.