by Jarret Johnson for Inside the Red Raiders
Texas Tech and Under Armour have agreed on a four-year extension worth $12.9 million to keep the Red Raiders outfitted in UA apparel through June 30, 2024.
Texas Tech was one of the first schools to partner with Under Armour dating back to 2006, exclusively since 2009 and extended their partnership in 2015 with a six-year extension which was set to run out on June 30.
“Texas Tech has been part of the Under Armour family since 2006 and over that span we have had a number of athletic and academic wins together,” said Brian Cummings, Vice President of North America sports marketing at Under Armour. “Our goal is to continue to give the Red Raiders’ student-athletes a competitive edge with performance innovations as they seek excellence in their daily goals.”
The two sides reached a verbal agreement back in October which Texas Tech Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt announced on his radio show KTTU-FM. During that announcement, Hocutt mentioned the deal had to be agreed to by the Texas Tech Board of Regents. That has come to pass according to this report from the Baltimore Business Journal and Texas Tech has since confirmed it with a press release. In a meeting on May 14, the BOR agreed to the deal worth $3.225 million each contract year “plus royalty rates and performance bonuses for postseason appearances.”
“Under Armour has been a tremendous and loyal partner with Texas Tech for over a decade now, and we are excited to extend that relationship,” Hocutt said. “Under Armour continues to be among the top brands in the world, providing innovative products for our student-athletes to utilize on a daily basis. This is a valuable partnership for us as an athletics program.”
The report by the Baltimore Business Journal mentions the size of the contract is much smaller than deals signed in 2016 with UCLA for 15 years, $280 million and California Berkeley for 10 years, $85.6 million deal. The report goes on to say Under Armour is making major cutbacks after closing all its stores in North America due to the coronavirus pandemic which saw sales plunge 23% and the company report a $590 million loss in the first quarter this year.
The report also mentioned that despite Texas Tech fielding one of the most successful athletic departments partnered with Under Armour, the school has received one of the lowest paying sponsorships in all of the Power 5 conferences. The article points to the Red Raiders struggles on the gridiron as perhaps the reason:
“One sore spot has been the Red Raiders football team, which has been mired in mediocrity for the better part of the past decade. However, Texas Tech remains Under Armour’s only top-tier partner in football-hungry Texas.”
