The Red Raiders have found another potentially unprecedented way to throw money at their football program: spending just under $1 million to facilitate the new documentary series about the team.
In a reversal of the typical financial arrangement for college sports documentaries, Texas Tech University agreed to compensate Skydance’s sports-focused production studio $999,999 to film The Program, a four-part, all-access docuseries that premiered Sept. 4 on Paramount+.
According to a February term sheet obtained by Sportico, Texas Tech was to pay Skydance Sports a “studio fee” in three installments, with the final payment due upon the start of postproduction. The agreement makes no mention of payments or revenue sharing flowing from the production company to the university.
Spokespeople for the university and Skydance did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication.
The term sheet, signed by Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec, granted Skydance’s producers access to “all of team’s players and personnel,” as well as football facilities, the stadium, medical facilities, NIL negotiations, coaches and GM meetings, practices and training sessions. Texas Tech also agreed to provide producers with a “dedicated production office” within its athletic complex.
By keeping the fee just under $1 million, the deal avoided triggering the “major contract” threshold established under Texas law, which could have subjected it to additional scrutiny and oversight—including Board of Regents approval—and the resulting delays.
Aside from the Raiders rubles, Skydance got its money’s worth in terms of narrative drama, which included landing Cincinnati-turned-Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby’s first public comments following a gambling scandal that rocked college football. Producers also captured footage of the team meeting in which head coach Joey McGuire informed TTU players that Sorsby would be taking a leave of absence.
Texas Tech’s pay-to-film pact stands out in the world of commercially distributed sports documentaries, where production companies have generally compensated schools for filming access—not the other way around.
For example, as Sportico previously reported, EverWonder Studio agreed to pay North Carolina at least $250,000 for a planned documentary series chronicling Bill Belichick’s Tar Heels program. That project was ultimately scrapped.
Campfire Film & TV paid LSU $1 million for the exclusive rights to produce The Money Game, a documentary series following Tigers athletes during the 2023-24 academic year. That fee was in addition to NIL compensation the studio paid to participating players.
Similarly, Michigan reportedly netted $2.25 million for All or Nothing, the 2018 Amazon Prime documentary series that followed the Wolverines football program.
Even junior colleges, such as those featured in Netflix’s Last Chance U and Cheer, have received modest, five-figure sums under their filming access agreements.
In other cases, such as Colorado’s access agreement for the Amazon Prime series Coach Prime, no money changed hands between the producers and school.
Despite Texas Tech footing the bill for The Program, the agreement granted Skydance Sports—part of Paramount Skydance, which owns Paramount+—sole ownership of “all elements in connection with and including the project,” excluding the university’s trademarks. Texas Tech retained limited review and approval rights over rough and final cuts, with a 72-hour turnaround window. Those rights included ensuring the series “does not portray TTU or its students, alumni or employees in a manner giving rise to actionable defamation.”
Paramount+ officially announced the The Program in August, saying it had been in production since January. The announcement also referenced unspecified “support” for the project provided by Adidas, Texas Tech’s official apparel provider.
Per the agreement, Texas Tech can request use of social media or short-form content produced by Skydance Sports six months after the final episode aired.