Latest on the Texas Tech deal with adidas and when to expect visuals
The month of July is an eagerly anticipated one around Texas Tech athletics, perhaps a little more so than usual this year. In addition to Texas Tech football drawing near, Tech is in the process of switching sports apparel suppliers for the first time in more than a decade.
July 1 is the planned start date for the partnership between Texas Tech and adidas, though details are still being worked out and a contract has not been signed, a Tech athletics spokesman said this week.
"Assets in venue, video assets, some of those other little details are just being hammered out," Tech senior associate athletics director Robert Giovannetti said, "so the agreement is not finalized yet. I think it is in principle ... but it's not completely done.
"But it's nothing to be concerned about. We are clearly moving ahead and will be ready to go in July."
Under Armour has been with Texas Tech since 2006 and its official supplier since 2009. The current contract runs through June 30.
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The Texas Tech University System Board of Regents in mid-November unanimously authorized the Tech athletics department to conduct negotiations with adidas. In response to an open-records request the Avalanche-Journal filed in October for a contract and other related documents, Tech forwarded the request to the state attorney general's office, seeking to withhold such information while it was in negotiation.
Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt has said the contract would run for a decade. The TTUS agenda book described it as being for greater than $5 million. Therefore, it needed regents' approval for amount and length of the deal.
Texas Tech sent a four-person contingent to Portland, Oregon, from April 23-25 for a partners' summit at which adidas conducted a conference with officials from its schools.
"We did talk about compiling some talking points," Giovannetti said, "because they cannot ship Texas Tech gear until after July 1 to retailers. We want to manage expectations. You will be able to order online as soon as the new agreement is in place July 1, but we still have to meet with the retailers and everybody else to develop the plan of release. But again, they can't ship it until the contract is effective."
Tech sports teams have received product from adidas to try out and see what players and coaches like. Tech men's basketball general manager Kellen Buffington this week posted a photo of red-and-black adidas basketball shoes on social media.
However, Giovannetti said Tech athletics isn't planning to publicize visual elements related to the new partnership before July 1.
"Obviously, everyone is aware of deadlines and when seasons start," he said, "so I wouldn't read too much into it except for we've had a long, successful partnership with Under Armour, and we will continue to have one until June 30."
Giovannetti was a part of the Tech group that went to the adidas partners' summit, along with Zane Perry, assistant athletics director for equipment operations; Patrick Clancy, director of creative content and storytelling; and Paige Holland, assistant athletics director for licensing and brand management, digital media and special projects.
Among the subjects covered were uniforms and rollout plans for each sport.
"They did a nice job," Giovannetti said, "of relaying to all of us some of their objectives for the upcoming year, some timelines, working on some of the things that are important to them that they want their partner schools to be aware of."
In addition to Tech being part of group sessions with other schools, because of its new-partner status the Tech contingent had a full one-on-one day with adidas officials to get up to speed.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Latest on the Texas Tech deal with adidas and when to expect visuals
