Oklahoma football: OU-Texas rivalry game gets new title sponsor and name
By Chip Rouse
The Oklahoma football rivalry with Texas is getting a new title sponsor and name makeover.
Beginning with this year’s game, which will be the 119th game in one of college football’s oldest and most popular rivalry series, the annual Red River rivalry game played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas will be sponsored by Allstate and rebranded as the Allstate Red River Rivalry.
The name change harkens back to the name used to promote the game in the early 2000s, albeit under a different sponsor.
The Oklahoma-Texas rivalry in football dates back to 1900 and has been played annually and uninterrupted since 1929. At the beginning, the game was played at campus sites or in Oklahoma City. The game was moved to Dallas in 1912 and has been played at the historic Cotton Bowl at the state fairgrounds in Dallas since the 1932 season.
Texas leads the all-time series 63-50-5. but Oklahoma has won seven of the last 10 games and is 16-8 against Texas since 2000.
For a number of years, the name of the game was referred to promotionally as the Red River Shootout. In 2005 SBC Communications acquired naming rights and the name became the SBC Red River Rivalry. The following year, when SBC merged to form AT&T Corporation, it became the AT&T Red River Rivalry, and in 2014 the football rivalry was renamed the AT&T Red River Showdown.
Allstate hold long-standing relationships with both schools. This marks the 13th year as a sponsor of Oklahoma athletics and the 11th year with Texas. In addition Learfield represents both schools’ brands and has been aligning with the rivalry game in Dallas since 1995.