BALTIMORE _ The Rangers' half-price pizza promotion is on hold indefinitely.
The Texas Rangers joined the long list of other MLB franchises and various sports teams to suspend their marketing and promotional relationships with Papa John's, whose founder, John Schnatter, uttered a racial slur during a May conference call.
Part of the agreement with the Rangers included a half-price pizza promotion the day after the Rangers scored seven runs in a game. In addition to that being suspended, the Rangers will no longer show any Papa John's signage during home games.
Schnatter, the face of the pizza chain, resigned Wednesday as chairman of the board after confirming that he used a slur during a PR training session. He also described violence against minorities in his home state of Indiana, and many on the call were offended.
"News reports attributing the use of inappropriate and hurtful language to me during a media-training session regarding race are true," Schnatter said in a statement released Wednesday by the company.
"Regardless of the context, I apologize. Simply stated, racism has no place in our society."
MLB ended its Papa Slam promotion earlier in the week, and the Miami Marlins and New York Yankees, among others, have severed ties with the company.
Schnatter stepped down as CEO in December after his comments on NFL national anthem protests. He said in a November conference call to announce third-quarter earnings that protests had hurt the company's stock prices and that the NFL was responsible for not doing more to stop protests.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who reportedly owns more than 100 Papa John's franchises, defended Schnatter. The NFL ended its relationship with Papa John's in February.
