Ted Cruz's campaign logos are 'serious concern' for Big 12

Steve Berkowitz | USA TODAY Sports

The Ted Cruz campaign appears to have learned the same lesson Jeb Bush’s campaign experienced earlier this fall: Major-college athletics conferences don't like being drawn into presidential politics, especially not without their consent.

The Cruz campaign had developed logos modeled on those used, respectively, by the SEC and the Big 12 Conference, and was planning to deploy them through a Snapchat filter it had bought and scheduled to be available to users at seven games involving those conference’s schools on Friday and Saturday.

However, on Saturday morning, Big 12 spokesman Bob Burda said the conference’s legal counsel, Kevin Sweeney, had sent a letter to Cruz campaign chief strategist Jason Johnson saying the campaign’s Big 12-style logo causes the conference “serious legal concerns.”

The use “also implies a passive endorsement,” said Burda, who added that the conference’s non-profit charter prevents it from making any political endorsements.

Then on Saturday afternoon, SEC spokesman Herb Vincent said in a statement: “We have communicated to the Ted Cruz campaign that we have concerns about their use of the mark and its similarities to the SEC mark."

By that time, Snapchat images and filters captured by Gannett reporters at the Clemson-South Carolina game in Columbia, S.C., and the Alabama-Auburn game in Auburn, Ala., did not carry the logo, as it had been shown on a sample image provided to USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday evening by Cruz campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier.

The Cruz logo modeled on the SEC’s circular mark also appears on drink koozies that the campaign, as of late Saturday morning (Eastern time), was selling through its online store at $20 for a set a four. As of 2:45 p.m. (Eastern), the koozies had been removed from the site.

The Snapchat filters, which were first reported by CNN, were scheduled to be available to fans at Friday’s Missouri-at-Arkansas game and at Saturday’s matchups of Kansas State at Kansas, Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, Alabama at Auburn, Clemson at South Carolina, Texas A&M at LSU, and Mississippi at Mississippi State.

According to a report earlier this week in The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, the Mississippi-Mississippi State game also is scheduled to be the site of a tailgating appearance by Bush, who has made similar appearances before other SEC games this season. Republican campaigns are fighting for attention and votes in nine states that have SEC and/or Big 12 schools and will be holding primaries or caucuses on March 1 or March 5.

“The whole point is to reach out to voters and connect with voters at these games and get them engaged in what we are doing,” Frazier said Wednesday evening.

Frazier said at that time the campaign had not heard from either of the conferences concerning the logos or the Snapchat plans.

She could not be reached for immediate comment on Saturday.

Bush’s campaign had developed a logo based on the conference’s circular SEC logo, but instead using the letters “JEB.” A version of the “JEB” logo using yellow lettering on a blue background — nearly the same color scheme as the SEC’s — was appearing on campaign signs and a white-on-blue version was appearing on drink koozies the campaign was selling.

In mid-October, SEC officials discussed the matter with the Bush campaign, whose website also has been carrying a video titled “Jeb’s SEC Favorites,” in which the candidate discussed — among other topics — mascots, rivalries and his picks for which teams would play in the SEC championship game. During the video, as Bush spoke, the logos of Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Florida and LSU alternately appeared in the background.

In addition, Bush appeared at tailgating events prior to football games at the University of Georgia and the University of Tennessee.

The Cruz campaign’s SEC- and Big 12-style logos utilize the candidate’s last name. The SEC-style version on the Snapchat filter uses white, capital letters against a background of no color. The version on the drink koozies uses red letters on a white background. The Big 12-style version on the Snapchat filter uses white, capital letters presented in concave fashion on a red background — the same color scheme the Big 12 uses for its logo, which presents the Roman numeral “XII” in a stylized, concave fashion.

Contributing: Mandrallius Robinson of The Greenville (S.C.) News in Columbia; Brad Zimanek of the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser in Auburn.