The Lone Star Showdown, which was sponsored by State Farm until it was discontinued when A&M moved to the SEC in 2012, will be renewed this season now that Texas has followed suit. Houston-based Cotton Holdings Inc. will be the new sponsor of the Lone Star Showdown, the company and both universities announced Thursday.
“Growing up in Texas, the rivalry between The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University was legendary. Since founding Cotton, it has been a dream of mine to see our brand represent this series,” said Pete Bell, Founder & CEO of Cotton Holdings. “We are proud to support these two great universities, and are extremely honored to serve as the title sponsor for the Lone Star Showdown and the return of their historic rivalry.”
Cotton will serve as the sponsor of the series for all sports for at least the next three years, and will donate an undisclosed sum to the NIL funds of both universities.
“When I became the Director of Athletics University of Texas, they asked the first question, ‘Will we renew the rivalry?’ This is, I said it then, I’ll say now, and most important thing we do is restore this property,” Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said. “We think about the passion, the history — we can all look into A&M’s culture, it’s what they stand for, who they are as an institution, the University of Texas, and who we are and as an institution, playing on the field.”
A&M athletic director Trev Alberts, who played in a fierce rivalry between Nebraska and Oklahoma during his football career, said matchups like the Lone Star Showdown makes college athletics unique.
“What makes college athletics, and Chris alluded to this again, is rivalries. And it was really sad that the Texas- Texas A&M rivalry didn’t happen for this long,” he said. “So we join Texas, we join all of you in the state of Texas, in saying just how excited we are that this rivalry is back.”
Del Conte jokingly addressed claims that the football game would become a neutral site affair, acting like the first game would be in Dallas.
“Just joking,” he quipped. “Everyone puckered up just a little bit.”
More seriously, Alberts said taking the A&M-Texas game away from Kyle Field and DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium would be “counterproductive to the rivalry.” Both athletic directors said that there is not only a firm desire to play the game annually — something that remains uncertain beyond 2025 as the SEC works on new scheduling models — but interest in moving the game to Friday night, the day after Thanksgiving.
Alberts said there was a desire on both sides to not only renew the series, but “move it forward.”
“Cotton Holdings has been a corporate sponsor of A&M for some time. So we started thinking about, how can we advance this? How can we really try to grow the rivalry and make it as special as it can be?” he said.
As part of the new arrangement, there will be a trophy or cup that will the team that wins the most head-to-head matchups in all sports, like the Director’s Cup.
While Alberts and Del Conte clearly get along personally, A&M’s athletic director is not expecting Aggies and Longhorns to suddenly get buddy-buddy.
“I read about one SEC rivalry, Good Old Fashioned Hate (Clean Old Fashioned Hate is the Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry). I mean, these are the things that college athletics, and particularly the SEC, are really rooted in,” he said. “I think you embrace it. That’s great. That’s what drives the energy, the passion. I mean, what’s the alternative? I’d much rather have this than the alternative.”
Even though the Lone Star Showdown has been on ice for 12 years, save for an occasional baseball or basketball game, Alberts said the football game especially should resume its position among the elite rivalries like the Egg Bowl, the Iron Bowl, the Third Saturday in October and the game formerly known as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.
“I think that this game has a chance to be the best rivalry football game in all of college football. I really believe that. That kind of energy, that kind of passion is right here in the state of Texas,” he said.