Texas Tech spent approximately $30 million on its roster for college football this season. However, the uncertainty with Venezuela after the capture of (former) President Maduro is now a cause for concern for the Red Raiders.
Especially after Brendan Sorsby decided to visit Baton Rouge…
Depending how things shake out in South America over the next few days, weeks and months, the oil money could run dry for college football boosters in Lubbock. Don’t just take it from me!
Texas Tech kicked in the door to the College Football Playoff.
The Red Raiders have won 10 or more games only seven times in program history and only twice since 1977. Mike Leach took them to the Cotton Bowl at 11-1 in 2008. Joey McGuire led them to the College Football Playoff as the four-seed at 12-1 in 2025. That’s it.
Texas Tech had not won more than eight games since 2009 before this year’s impressive run to the Big 12 title. The blowout loss to Oregon on New Year’s Day was unfortunate but it was a historic season.
McGuire absolutely deserves credit for how his team played. The boosters deserve just as much credit for helping to assemble his roster.
According to multiple reports, the Red Raiders spent at least $28 million on this year’s players. At least. Billionaire booster Cody Campbell led the charge through the Matador Club. All of the oil tycoons in the Lone Star State opened up their checkbooks.
A massive influx of “NIL” dollars allowed McGuire to bring in 21 high-profile transfers during the offseason and Texas Tech had its best season in school history. That is not a coincidence.
Money (with the right coaching staff) can buy a Big 12 Championship and Playoff roster.
Venezuela creates oil money concerns.
The price of crude oil has already dropped by roughly $20 per barrel since the start of the 2025 college football season on Aug. 23, 2025. That’s approximately 25%. U.S. oil recently dropped below $55 per barrel, which is the lowest level since early 2021.
It could keep going lower after the capture of former Venezuelan “president” Nicolás Maduro.
United States president Donald Trump made it abundantly clear that he wants domestic oil companies to invest in the shattered petroleum industry of Venezuela. Should that happen, and the removal of Maduro leads to political stability, an increased amount of crude oil would flow into global markets.
That would, in turn, increase supply and put a downward pressure on prices. If the price of oil keeps dropping, the boosters in Lubbock will feel the impact.
Could it then have an impact on the Red Raiders? Fans are starting to panic.
To make matters worse, Texas Tech fans guaranteed that former Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby would not go through with his visit to Baton Rouge because he was going to sign with the Red Raiders while on campus— especially with his girlfriend set to play volleyball there. And then he got on the private jet to visit LSU less than 12 hours later.
Uh oh!
Maybe this is the first sign of financial unpredictability within the oil industry? This is a pretty galaxy-brained line of thinking but it is one that currently exists. The capture of Maduro in Venezuela could mark the end of Texas Tech’s instant relevance in college football. It is the greatest sport.