Excitement building for Saturday's Cotton Game

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - Excitement is building for Saturday's Cotton Game at the Jones AT&T stadium.

Wednesday, several of the game sponsors got together at the Bayer Museum or Agriculture to "Celebrate Cotton."

That's the theme as the Red Raiders face off against the UTEP Miners.

Fans are encouraged to wear white attire on Saturday to "white-out" the Jones.

"It's a fantastic, fun event devoted to showcasing the relationship between the cotton industry and Texas Tech, in particular," Mary Jane Buerkle with Plains Cotton Growers said.

This is the fourth consecutive year for Texas Tech Athletics to host this theme of "Celebrate Cotton."

She says the event has been in the planning stages for months now.

"There is a lot of excellent cotton research that's done at Texas Tech and so many great partnerships between the industry and Texas Tech," Buerkle said. "And so, the Celebrate Cotton game is a way to really highlight that and to celebrate that."

She tells us there are several events scheduled this week leading up to the big game.

Several sponsors of this theme met Wednesday and they'll meet again Thursday for an agriculture conference.

But, tomorrow evening at around 7:30, there will be a runway show at the South Plains Mall featuring cotton products.

And at the game, fans can expect to see several 500-pound cotton bales located around the stadium.

"There will be several different ways to interact with sponsors," Buerkle said. "We'll have different booths available at gate one, on the southwest corner of the stadium, and we'll be giving away t-shirts, first-come, first-served. You have got to get there early to get one, but of course, those will be 100% cotton."

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