A deal for Colin Kaepernick’s SPAC fell apart because the former NFL star wouldn’t do TV press for it, report says

• An agreement for Colin Kaepernickit is after-sales service buy a financial services firm collapsed last week, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• Sources told WSJ that Kaepernick had been reluctant to speak publicly about the ongoing deal with The Change Company.

A deal for Colin Kaepernick’s special-purpose acquisition firm to acquire a lender focused on underserved borrowers has collapsed, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Kaepernick’s Mission Advancement SPAC was set to buy financial services firm The Change Company, but Kaepernick wouldn’t speak publicly about the pending deal, leading to the collapse of the agreement last week, sources told the Journal.

The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback balked at requests from The Change Company executives to appear on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ TV show and declined to participate in interviews. of the deployment, according to the report, citing an internal document.

The Change Company was founded in 2017 to expand access to loans and banking services for Black and Latino borrowers and people living in low-income communities. Mission Advancement went public in March and raised $345 million to buy a socially responsible company.

A spokesperson for Mission Advancement told the Journal that it operates “with the highest ethical standards” and will continue its work while looking for a “good candidate” for a merger in 2022.

“The Change Company would proudly consider a partnership with Mr. Kaepernick, yesterday, today or tomorrow,” CEO Steven Sugarman said in a written statement last week praising Kaepernick’s commitment to racial justice, according to The report.

Kaepernick hasn’t played in the National Football League since 2016, remaining unsigned by NFL teams after kneeling during the national anthem before the game to protest police brutality and racism in the United States .

Kaepernick was part of this year’s boom in SPACs, or blank check companies created to acquire private companies to take them public. The process is generally considered less expensive and less time-consuming than the traditional IPO route. Sports figures, including Shaquille O’Neal and baseball executive Billy Beane, celebrities and politicians, including former House Speaker Paul Ryan, have backed a blank check corporation.

Earlier this month, Securities and Exchanges Commissioner Gary Gensler called for tougher rules on SPACs, saying he was concerned that investors in SPACs would enjoy the same protections as investors in traditional IPOs.