NIL
Will Texas Tech basketball play Texas A&M during 2025-26 season?
Grant McCasland on Texas Tech basketball’s draw in 2025 NCAA Tournament
Grant McCasland on Texas Tech basketball’s draw in 2025 NCAA Tournament
The fate of the Texas Tech basketball team’s agreed-upon games with Texas A&M is still up in the air at this point, and has gotten a bit complicated.
Jon Rothstein of College Sports Today reported on Saturday that the Red Raiders are expected to go back to Fort Worth for the US LBM Coast to Coast Challenge on Dec. 7, Tech’s third consecutive year participating in the event. Rothstein’s report noted that Texas Tech is slated to take on LSU.
The Avalanche-Journal obtained a copy of the contract for the Coast to Coast Challenge through a Freedom of Information Act request sent to Texas Tech two weeks prior to Rothstein’s report. Documents show Tech will be going back to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, where a sizeable Red Raider fanbase calls home, during non-conference play.
The caveat of the contract is that the initial plan was for Texas Tech to once again take on Texas A&M, “or a mutually agreed-upon Power 4 opponent,” in Dickies Arena. The two teams met in the same event last season to replace the previously scheduled game that was supposed to take place in Lubbock during Thanksgiving weekend.
When A&M signed on to participate in the name, image and likeness-centered Players Era Festival in Las Vegas during that same timeframe, Tech agreed to shift their 2024-25 game to Fort Worth with the idea that the series, agreed to in Dec. 2023, would begin during the 2025-26 season.
Then Buzz Williams left for the head coaching job at Maryland and created another new wrinkle. Often times when coaches take over programs, they can opt to cancel games agreed upon by previous regimes. That hasn’t happened yet under Aggies new coach Bucky McMillan. But it’s not clear when, or even if, the home-and-home series will begin this year.
Jonathan Botros, Tech’s deputy athletics director, told the A-J that Tech and A&M were planning on playing each other in the Coast to Coast Challenge once again this season, but more scheduling conflicts prevented that matchup. Botros couldn’t confirm that the opponent will instead be LSU, but said “that is our expectation at this point.”
So where does that leave the game with Texas A&M? Botros isn’t sure at the moment.
“We will definitely continue to have that series,” Botros said. “The series will definitely continue to start in Lubbock and then go to College Station the following year. What we’re working through right now is with them having a head coaching change, determining whether we can start in Lubbock this year in ’25 or whether we need to wait until ’26, so once we realized we weren’t going to be able to have that matchup with A&M at Dickies again this year, that’s when we shifted back to working on dates.”
NIL money factors into Texas Tech basketball’s trip to Fort Worth this year
Tech’s return to the Coast to Coast Challenge also comes with an added financial incentive. The 2024 version of the event guaranteed no payout to the participating teams. Language in the contract for the 2025 event now states participating teams will receive no less than $115,000 worth of NIL opportunities for the players.
“NIL opportunities must meet requirements for valid business purpose and range of compensation per the NIL Clearinghouse,” the contract states. The clearinghouse, set to be run by Deloitte, is part of the proposed House vs. NCAA settlement expected to go into effect in July.
Other game contracts show the Red Raiders are also set to host Lindenwood on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. and New Orleans on Dec. 22. Lindenwood is receiving a $130,000 game guarantee and New Orleans a $120,000 guarantee.
Texas Tech is already in agreement to play Wyoming on Nov. 19, as part of a two-game contract between the schools signed last July. Wyoming is receiving another $150,000 guarantee this year to return to Lubbock.
Texas Tech women’s basketball schedules
The A-J also obtained game contracts for a few of the Texas Tech women’s basketball team’s games for the 2025-26 season.
The Lady Raiders have contracted home games with North Carolina A&T (Nov. 3), UTSA (Nov. 6) and Jacksonville (Dec. 17). Texas Tech is paying each school a $30,000 game guarantee for these contests.
Texas Tech will also take part in the Hoopfest Women’s Basketball Classic Nov. 24-27 in Frisco. According to the contract, the event will consist of a maximum of eight Division I teams. Participating teams will play two games during that time. Pairings will be determined by the event organizer (GS Global Sports, LLC) no later than Oct. 1.
To participate in the Hoopfest Classic, Texas Tech is paying a fee of $35,000, half of which would have already been paid and the other half due to GSGS no later than Sept. 1.
The Lady Raiders are also contracted to play a game in Pullman, Washington, against Washington State, the return game of a home-and-home series agreed to last year. The day for that game has yet to be determined.