The Saturday Column With No Name – Texas Tech Football Becomes The Biggest Game In The Galaxy

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Welcome back to The Saturday Column With No Name. Which is actually the name of the column now, so we may have to change the name… Here’s just a few quick thoughts you can sink your teeth into this week. We love your comments and questions so fire away in the comment section or on Social Media. Let’s get going.

1. On Friday Texas Tech announced a new naming rights deal for Jones Stadium. Data Center company Galaxy won the bidding ponying up 75 million dollars over 15 years. It may shock some, but I don’t hate this. Y’all know I’m one of the staunchest proponents of preserving history and celebrating Texas Tech history. This call all be done going forward. Plus, you can still call it Jones Stadium or The Jones if you want. They ain’t paying you no money… That said, I hope that Texas Tech Athletics Director Kirby Hocutt is correct when he says Texas Tech will continue to celebrate Clifford B. and Audrey Jones in a very prominent way at the stadium. I still hope that perhaps they will all agree that it can be called Jones-Galaxy Stadium in the future. That won’t compromise the impact of the deal in my opinion and doesn’t sound bad at all.
2. Texas Tech should get a lot of credit for getting five million dollars a year on this deal. That puts it right there at the top of naming rights for pure college stadiums. Arkansas is slightly ahead. Texas Tech is getting more money for Jones Stadium than USC is making on their deal. Every marketing avenue must be maximized and Texas Tech beat the market here. Folks at the Big 12 could learn a monster lesson from the Texas Tech/Galaxy deal.
3. I get that some folks don’t want to be associated with a Data Center/A.I. type company right now. Personally, I’m not sure how I feel about it myself. One thing is certain, it’s a growing and blossoming industry and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. A.I. will make sure of that. But for folks who don’t like the “business of the business”, I understand. it could be a lot worse. Just think if Texas Tech had spent the last six months to a year negotiating with Draft Kings or Fan Duel?

OK, that’s our Saturday thinking. Would love to hear your thoughts on the whole subject so jump in here or on Twitter/X or our growing and engaging Raiderland Facebook page. Go finish whatever it is we distracted you from and we’ll see you in the morning with 5 Things We Know On A Sunday.