Galaxy Digital, the publicly traded crypto merchant bank founded by Mike Novogratz, paid $75 million over 15 years to rename Texas Tech's football stadium Galaxy Stadium. The deal replaces Jones AT&T Stadium, ending a decade-long arrangement with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the telecom carrier. Texas Tech announced the agreement Tuesday without disclosing per-year figures, though the math works to $5 million annually, positioning it among the larger naming-rights packages in college athletics.
The stadium seats 60,454 and hosts six to seven Big 12 home games each fall. Galaxy's logo now appears on the exterior, in-bowl signage, and broadcast overlays beginning with the 2025 season. The contract includes NIL access for Texas Tech student-athletes, a structure increasingly standard in university sponsorships since the NCAA lifted name-image-likeness restrictions in 2021. Galaxy did not specify the NIL budget carved from the $75 million total, nor whether those funds flow through the university's Red Raider Club collective or directly to athletes.
Galaxy Digital operates as a diversified financial services firm focused on digital assets, managing $4.7 billion in assets under management as of the most recent quarterly filing. The company trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq under ticker GLXY, with a market cap near $3.2 billion. Novogratz, a former Goldman Sachs partner and Fortress Investment Group principal, founded Galaxy in 2018 and remains executive chairman. The firm provides trading, asset management, and investment banking services to institutions entering crypto markets. This marks Galaxy's first disclosed naming-rights partnership in college or professional sports.
Texas Tech's decision to exit the Jones AT&T arrangement comes as Big 12 schools hunt incremental revenue after the conference absorbed four Pac-12 programs in 2024. The league's media-rights deal with ESPN and Fox pays each school roughly $31.7 million annually, trailing the SEC's $51.3 million per member and the Big Ten's $60 million average. Naming rights now matter more. Oklahoma State's Boone Pickens Stadium sits on a $165 million gift spread over decades. Kansas State's STADIUM (sic) became Bramlage Coliseum under a donor relationship. Texas Tech's $5 million per year from Galaxy lands above many Group of Five deals but below the $9.4 million annually that SoFi pays for the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers' NFL venue.
Jerry Jones, who played at Arkansas and owns the Cowboys, partnered with AT&T in 2014 to fund Texas Tech stadium upgrades. That deal, reported at the time as worth roughly $20 million over ten years, helped finance $60 million in renovations including new video boards and club seating. Jones retains other naming-rights holdings, including AT&T Stadium in Arlington, a $17 million to $19 million annual contract with the telecom giant that runs through 2030. AT&T declined to comment on whether the company explored renewing at Texas Tech or shifted budget to other college properties.
Galaxy's move into college sports follows a broader pattern of crypto firms buying visibility during the 2021-2022 bull cycle, then pulling back after the FTX collapse in November 2022. FTX paid the University of California $17.5 million for a five-year naming deal on Cal's football field, then filed for bankruptcy before the first season ended. Miami's FTX Arena reverted to Kaseya Center after the exchange's insolvency. Galaxy, by contrast, survived the 2022 liquidity crunch without declaring bankruptcy, posting a $288 million net loss that year before returning to profitability in early 2024. The firm's balance sheet held $1.1 billion in liquid assets as of December 2024, per its Q4 earnings release.
The Texas Tech contract contains no disclosed crypto-payment clauses, meaning the university likely receives USD wire transfers rather than Bitcoin or stablecoin installments. This structure avoids the accounting and tax complications that stalled earlier university crypto partnerships. Galaxy's branding, however, keeps digital-asset messaging in front of the 60,000-plus game-day attendees and ESPN-televised audiences. Big 12 football broadcasts averaged 2.1 million viewers per window in 2024, giving Galaxy national reach during Saturday slots.
Watch for details on the NIL allocation by late spring. Texas Tech's Red Raider Club and athletic department typically finalize collective budgets in May, ahead of summer recruiting. If Galaxy routes $1 million to $2 million annually to NIL, it positions the school closer to Big 12 peers like TCU and Kansas State, which disclosed NIL pools near $3 million to $4 million. Also watch Galaxy's Q1 2025 earnings call in early May for any discussion of marketing spend and whether the company treats the $5 million yearly outlay as customer acquisition or brand infrastructure. Lastly, expect other Big 12 schools to pitch crypto firms with similar proof-of-concept, especially if Bitcoin sustains a price above $80,000 through the summer.
Galaxy Stadium's first game is scheduled for September 6, 2025, against an FCS opponent. The field itself keeps its grass surface; only the name changed.
The takeaway
Galaxy's **$5M/year** Texas Tech deal tests whether crypto firms re-enter college sponsorship after FTX implosion, with NIL terms signaling budget shift.
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