A number of years in the past at a fundraising occasion in Hawai’i, Patrick Mahomes saddled up subsequent to Texas Tech’s athletics director and pitched an concept.

The NFL famous person did not simply wish to assist his alma mater, he needed his identify to be eternally related to Texas Tech.

“He needed his alma mater with Adidas – and on the similar time he had the imaginative and prescient for development of his ‘Gladiator’ emblem, his model,” Hocutt mentioned.

Texas Tech was in talks on the time with Beneath Armour to increase their attire and tools contract, however Mahomes, who had not too long ago signed with Adidas, had a unique pitch: why not signal with Adidas and embrace his personal model within the contract?

The casual dialog quickly led to motion, and in 2024, Texas Tech jumped to Adidas and signed a 10-year settlement. In that settlement, Mahomes’ branded “Gladiator” emblem appeared on jerseys for one house soccer recreation in opposition to Colorado.

“Seeing my very own emblem on the Texas Tech uniform I put a lot blood, sweat and tears in is among the most significant off-field accomplishments of my profession,” Mahomes mentioned in October.

The announcement was a success with the Pink Raiders’ gamers and followers, nevertheless it wasn’t the primary formal deal to contain some mixture of the college, Mahomes and the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs. Texas Tech has seemingly hitched its wagon to Mahomes over the past 4 years, going as far to signal a multi-million greenback advertising and marketing take care of the NFL franchise that features game-day ads for Texas Tech at Arrowhead Stadium and throughout the Chiefs’ in-house broadcasts and social media.

“Anytime you activate a Chiefs recreation, you are going to see one thing with Texas Tech on their boards,” Pink Raiders coach Joey McGuire mentioned.

It is tough to keep away from the facility “TT” emblem at Arrowhead Stadium. It seems typically on video and ribbon boards contained in the stadium, which is usually caught on nationwide tv broadcasts throughout kickoffs and intermittently throughout motion. 

The in-stadium adverts prompted questions from befuddled informal viewers. In spite of everything, why the heck is a college 701 miles away entrenched with an NFL franchise?

The reply dates again to the pandemic in 2020, when Kansas Metropolis was pumping out video content material about Mahomes’ upbringing at Whitehouse Excessive College in Texas and his growth with the Chiefs.

“A variety of the content material simply type of appeared to gloss over Texas Tech, so I reached out to them and mentioned, ‘Hey, what may we do to get his Texas Tech story to be a part of his broader Kansas Metropolis Chiefs story?'” mentioned Matt Dewey, Texas Tech’s vp of selling and communications.

Mahomes did not win lots of video games in his two seasons as a full-time starter at Tech (12-13), however he was nonetheless a head-turning famous person. He led the nation in passing with 5,052 yards passing and broke the FBS document for single-game complete offense with 819 yards in a loss to Oklahoma in 2016. His jet-fueled rise with the Chiefs, who chosen him tenth general within the 2017 NFL Draft, has positioned him within the dialog as one of many best quarterbacks of all time. The Chiefs can turn out to be the primary NFL crew in historical past Sunday to win three straight Tremendous Bowls. 

Mahomes, a two-time NFL MVP and three-time Tremendous Bowl MVP, has led the franchise to seven straight AFC Championship video games to associate with 5 Tremendous Bowls and three Tremendous Bowl titles in solely seven seasons. The Chiefs play the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday in Tremendous Bowl 59. 

When Mahomes’ rise started, Tech struck gold. He gained his first Tremendous Bowl because the starter in January 2020, reworking him right into a family identify. His jersey gross sales jumped into the highest 10 amongst NFL gamers, and in Lubbock, extra Chiefs bumper stickers began changing the Dallas Cowboys’ insignia on automobiles and vans. Dewey, who previously labored at Michigan, knew he needed to make a pitch to his bosses at Tech.

“One of many issues I at all times wished we had (at Michigan) was a extra formal relationship with the New England Patriots and with (Tom) Brady,” Dewey mentioned. “There was by no means actually a lot of an urge for food for that.”

Texas Tech struck a seven-year advertising and marketing take care of the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs in the summertime of 2021 value $6.47 million, in response to paperwork obtained by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. The contract stretches by way of the 2027 season. It appeared like a dangerous deal on the time, however now it is seemingly a cut price. Hundreds of thousands of individuals each week see the Texas Tech ads.

Tech advertises on the Chiefs’ video boards and ribbon boards inside Arrowhead Stadium and has business time on TVs contained in the stadium’s concourse. Tech-branded content material frequently seems on the Chiefs’ social media and radio broadcasts as effectively. Texas Tech dignitaries attend one Chiefs recreation annually and Chiefs personnel take part in digital enterprise lessons at Tech. Earlier than the Chiefs traveled to Germany for a recreation in 2023, Tech despatched German school to Kansas Metropolis to assist educate the Chiefs’ workers on German tradition and language.

Candidates to Texas Tech from the Kansas Metropolis space have “gone up considerably” throughout the advertising and marketing settlement, Hocutt mentioned. About 100 college students from the Kansas Metropolis space have enrolled at Tech, Dewey mentioned.

“There is no approach you might put a greenback determine on the publicity, the advertising and marketing and the branding that he brings again to his program and his college,” Hocutt mentioned.

In August, Mahomes and his spouse, Brittany, donated $5 million towards the college’s ongoing soccer services initiatives, which is estimated to complete $242 million. Contained in the soccer facility, a big “walkthrough room” for the crew is now known as the “Patrick Mahomes Walkthrough Room,” and features a 70-foot video board and turf area. The workplace for the offensive coordinator and a gathering room for the offense are additionally named after Mahomes.

In August, Mahomes returned to campus to announce the $5 million donation and new identify, picture and likeness offers with seven Tech athletes for a program he calls “Group Mahomes,” which is predicted to be renewed subsequent fall. His quick go to to Lubbock had the campus stirring with onlookers.

“It is in all probability like when the Beatles first got here to America within the ’60s,” Dewey mentioned. “He is like an iconic determine.”

Mahomes typically tweets about Tech, most not too long ago congratulating the basketball program’s upset of top-five Houston on Feb. 1. He attended Tech soccer video games throughout his bye weeks with the Chiefs in 2021, 2022 and 2023. He was unable to attend a recreation in 2024 as a result of Kansas Metropolis’s open date was on the identical week as Tech’s open date. 

“I do not ever bear in mind a extra outspoken athlete in his prime speaking about the way it’s all about his college,” McGuire mentioned.

Quickly, the Mahomes-Tech relationship will deepen. 

“We have seen super pleasure and sell-through round our Texas Tech attire from Pink Raiders followers,” mentioned Jim Murphy, senior director of NCAA sports activities advertising and marketing at Adidas.

Talks are underway to completely place his Gladiator emblem on the Pink Raiders’ adidas uniforms for each soccer recreation beginning in 2026, Tech officers mentioned, in what is perhaps the primary full-time branding settlement between an lively NFL participant and an NCAA college.

“We stay up for the day when the Gladiator emblem is on all of our uniforms and attire right here at Texas Tech,” Hocutt mentioned.