A new marketing partnership with United Supermarkets names the grocery chain as the “Official Supermarket” of Red Raider Athletics as well as the Texas Tech Alumni Association.
The announcement was formally unveiled during an Oct. 29 press conference at Jones AT&T Stadium, featuring Texas Tech Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt, United Supermarkets CEO Robert Taylor and Barry Street, chair of the Texas Tech Alumni Association National Board of Directors.
“United Supermarkets has been a longtime supporter of Texas Tech, and we are excited to enter into a great marketing partnership with such an outstanding organization,” Hocutt said. “When Texas Tech needed the financial backing to build a state-of-the-art basketball arena, United Supermarkets was there to provide the necessary support. We appreciate United for stepping up again for Texas Tech Athletics with this new level of commitment.”
The new partnership continues a longstanding relationship between Texas Tech and United Supermarkets, both in academics and athletics. On the athletics side, the West Texas-based supermarket chain is the namesake for United Supermarkets Arena, which opened in 1999 as one of the top basketball facilities in the country as well as the premier concert venue in West Texas.
United provided Texas Tech with a key $10 million investment that boosted fundraising efforts for the arena in 1996. The original 20-year naming right agreement was extended by another 10 years in 2014 as part of a $9.45 million deal that now expires in 2027.
“Our company has been a strong supporter of Texas Tech since we opened our first store in Lubbock in 1956,” said Robert Taylor, CEO of The United Family. “Texas Tech is a great asset to our community, and our company holds a high priority on giving back to the communities we serve. We are proud to be the official supermarket of the Texas Tech Alumni Association and Tech Athletics.”
In addition to its support of athletics, United Supermarkets has provided more than $5 million in scholarship endowments to Texas Tech University and the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, which generates at least 50 scholarships each year for undergraduate and graduate students.
“We are very grateful for United Supermarkets’ commitment to the Texas Tech Alumni Association,” said Curt Langford, president and CEO of the Texas Tech Alumni Association. “United has been a longtime supporter of our university and is a fixture in our community. Their support in this partnership will assist our association in a long tradition of serving both Texas Tech and our alumni. They’re ‘One of Us.’”
The new marketing partnership between United, Texas Tech Athletics and the alumni association was brokered through Learfield IMG College, the official multimedia rights holder for Texas Tech Athletics.
“We’re grateful for United Supermarkets’ unwavering corporate commitment to the Lubbock community and to the Red Raiders,” said Learfield IMG College President and CEO Greg Brown. “It’s been a privilege for us to be longtime partners with Texas Tech Athletics, and we thank United for its elevated support of Athletics and the Texas Tech Alumni Association.”
