Deion Sanders’ Sneaker Designer Spills The Beans On His Fallout With Nike Amid Relaunching Of His Signature Shoe

Coach Prime and his brand have spread their roots all over the sport of college football and have undoubtedly made Deion, one of the prominent figures in the history of football. Deion has been a household name since his days with the Atlanta Falcons and with the relaunch of his iconic shoes, Nike Air DT Max ’96.

Deion Sanders played two sports and earned a high name for himself in both. During these years of his tenure, he released several sneakers that were customized to his brand and name, which became quite popular with his fans. The first Air Diamond Turf was released in 1993 which was followed by the Air Diamond Turf 2 sequels in 1994. He went on to release several other shoes before his relationship turned bitter with Nike. But now that he’s officially back with the brand again, Brendan Dunne revealed the insider info he received from Deion’s personal shoe designer, Tracy Teague.

Tracy Teague gives details about why the fallout between Deion and Nike occurred

On the 28th June episode of the Complex Sneakers Podcast, the hosts Joe La Pluma, Brendan Dunne, and Matt Welty sat down to discuss the best sneakers that are dropping soon and in one of the segments, they arrived at the topic of Deion Sanders’ popular shoes. Later, while Brendan complimented the Coach Prime signature shoes and their simplicity, he ended up revealing the story of why Deion and Nike cut ties with each other as he iterated his conversation with Tracy Teague, the designer of the Deion Sanders’ shoes.

Brendan took the viewers back to the 2000s to narrate the incident, which is when the shoes were being bought by the fans in a frenzy but in an unprecedented move, Nike went behind Deion’s back and as such, the Falcons’ legend chose to severe ties. As per Brendan’s conversation with Teague, “And when Nike first wanted to retro his shoes in the 2000s, Deion wasn’t still on contract with Nike but had a decent relationship with them. And then they brought the shoes back and he’s like, You can’t just bring my shoes back without cutting me in somehow. And then the Under Armour thing happened, now he’s back.” The relationship between Deion and Nike has been revived after almost two decades and, as per the fans’ reactions to the shoes, this deal will have a major impact on the sales that Nike will receive due to the popularity of Coach Prime.

The frenzy over the Nike Air Max DT ’96

The “Prime Effect” usually ends up taking over the fans in the football world, but after making a comeback in the sneaker industry, nobody expected Deion to have such an explosive reaction to his shoes. Nike had picked 14th June to be the release date for the sneakers and the people were very excited about the launch since there were events in Atlanta and Boulder being held to popularize the iconic pairs of shoes.

As soon as the shoes were released to the public, they sold out within minutes of it. Though the fans were disappointed at how quickly they went away, Deion has assured the fans that there will be another drop soon for the four Diamond Turf 3 colorways and the Nike Air Diamond Turf 1. Moreover, the recent partnership between Deion and Nike has ensured that there will be several drops of new sneakers in different colorways over the course of 2 years and, as such, the influence of Coach Prime is just going to get bigger and bigger.