Sunday, Texas Tech football fans got a much-needed boost. A day after the Red Raiders fell to 3-5 on the year with a 27-14 loss at BYU, none other than Patrick Mahomes II lifted morale around Raiderland by hinting at a new partnership between Texas Tech and Adidas.
Sending out social media posts on both Instagram and X, the Red Raider legend posted photos of himself wearing a shirt with the Double T on it and Adidas written below. The text of each post reads “Coming July 2024”.
This is as close to an official announcement of a deal between Tech and Adidas, for which Mahomes is a spokesman, as we have received. Now, it is fair to wonder if this could be a landmark deal for Tech given Mahomes’ pull with Adidas.
Coming July 2024 ⏰@TechAthletics @adidasFballUS pic.twitter.com/6SRdrH3Zvi
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) October 22, 2023
Of course, Mahomes already has his own brand and clothing line under the Adidas umbrella. That has led many to surmise that Tech could eventually be the first athletic department to have its apparel supplied by the Mahomes brand.
The hope for Adidas (and of course, Texas Tech) is that the Mahomes brand becomes as popular and profitable as the Jordan brand has become for Nike. Though Michael Jordan is obviously a basketball icon, his brand is sported by such football programs as Oklahoma, UCLA, Florida, Michigan, and his alma mater, North Carolina.
Could Mahomes be on his way to following that path with his brand? If so, it would make sense for Texas Tech to be the first school sponsored by Mahomes.
This also brings an end to the partnership between Texas Tech and Under Armour. Tech began its partnership with UA in 2006 and has been exclusively sponsored by the Maryland-based company since 2009.
In 2020, the two entities agreed on a four-year extension of their deal worth $12.9 million for Texas Tech. However, when that deal expires on June 30 of next year, it will signal a new era for the Red Raiders.
Apparel talk has been quite popular among Red Raider fans this season with rumors of a potential Adidas deal picking up steam. What’s more, on his latest coaches show, (heard every Thursday on TexasTech.com), head coach Joey McGuire said that he has been working to help design new uniforms for the program, a tidbit that only fueled the Adidas fervor.
Currently, Adidas is the sponsor of programs such as Texas A&M, Kansas, Louisville, Nebraska, Miami (FL), Indiana, and others. Also, last year, Adidas announced a new Name Image and Likeness program available only for athletes playing for Adidas schools.
This could also be fantastic news for Texas Tech basketball. That’s because Adidas is one of the biggest players in the high school basketball recruiting scene and being affiliated with that brand could help open doors for Grant McCasland and his coaching staff.
Ultimately, the partnership between Texas Tech and Under Armour was a positive one. With UA being an upstart company relative to its more well-established competitors, its relationship with Tech (which is also an upstart athletic program in terms of the NCAA being as the university is one of the youngest in Division I) made perfect sense.
What’s more, some of the most memorable moments in Texas Tech history happened in Under Armour uniforms. That included the 2008 Graham Harrell to Michael Crabtree pass to beat No. 1 Texas and the 2019 run to the National Championship game in basketball as well as four trips to the College World Series in baseball.
Now, though, it appears that a new day is soon to dawn for the Texas Tech athletic department. And if Tech is going to hitch its wagon to a new horse, it makes sense to hitch it to the most recognizable athlete in American sports these days, Pat Mahomes.