For one night each October, a stretch of Lubbock's brick thoroughfare stops being a street and becomes a basketball court. The Broadway Block Party, Texas Tech's free preseason celebration of its men's and women's basketball programs, returns on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, shutting down a section of Broadway Street directly in front of Chimy's from 7:45 to 9 p.m.
The premise is simple and a little improbable: put a temporary playing surface on a brick street across from campus, bring out the Red Raiders and Lady Raiders before either team has played a real game, and let the fans in on it. Admission is free for students and fans, and there are no tickets to buy.
The format has stayed remarkably consistent since the event began. A Flex Court is installed on the brick, and the night mixes fan games with team introductions. The players themselves compete in a knockout tournament and a 3-point contest, and then the crowd gets its own moment: kids are pulled from the audience to take part in a slam dunk contest, showing off their skills in front of the same rosters they came to see.
The origins of the party trace to 2024, when Texas Tech Athletics staged the first-ever Broadway Block Party on Monday, Oct. 28. That inaugural edition ran from 7:30 to 9 p.m. and closed Broadway from University Avenue to Avenue X. It came with a fireworks show to close out the night, an addition that made the first version as much a street festival as a basketball showcase. Local coverage at the time framed it as a new way to let fans interact with players from both programs before the season tipped off, and the university leaned into the setting, describing the closure as taking over "the historic brick street."
The event returned for a second year in 2025, again on Broadway and again in front of Chimy's, with the same core attractions: fan games, team introductions, the knockout and 3-point competitions, and the kids' dunk contest. By then it had settled into a rhythm as a preseason ritual rather than a one-off stunt.
That rhythm is part of the appeal. College basketball's exhibition season is usually a quiet, ticketed affair, played in front of sparse crowds in cavernous arenas. The Broadway Block Party inverts that. It is outdoors, it is free, and it is built around the idea that fans should be close enough to the players to watch them joke through a knockout game or launch threes on a temporary court laid over brick. The kids' dunk contest, in particular, turns spectators into participants, with young fans selected from the crowd rather than pre-arranged.
The timing matters too. The 2026 edition lands just days before the games start counting. Texas Tech opens the 2026-27 regular season at home against Jackson State at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2 at United Supermarkets Arena, and the Lady Raiders open their season on Thursday, Nov. 5 against Charlotte. The block party is, in effect, the last chance to see both teams loose and unscripted before the standings begin.
There is plenty for fans to be excited about this year. Texas Tech enters the season ranked in both major preseason polls, at No. 19 in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 and No. 16 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. The Red Raiders were ranked throughout last season for the first time in program history and climbed as high as No. 10 nationally, and they finished last season at No. 21 in the AP poll after a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Grant McCasland. The schedule ahead is ambitious: a Nov. 10 home date with No. 3 Illinois and a Dec. 21 meeting with No. 2 Duke at Madison Square Garden.
None of that is on the line on Broadway Street. That is rather the point. The block party exists in the gap between the offseason and the first tip-off, when a ranked team is still just a group of players who will happily spend an evening shooting threes at a knockout hoop while kids line up for their turn to dunk.
For anyone planning to go, the practical details are straightforward. The event runs 7:45 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29, on Broadway Street in front of Chimy's, across from the Texas Tech campus. It is free, and no ticket is required. Single-game tickets for both Red Raider and Lady Raider basketball are on sale through TexasTech.com or by calling the athletic ticket office at 806-742-TECH, and season tickets remain available for Lady Raider Basketball.
What the third edition will add to the formula is not yet clear from the university's announcement, which describes the same lineup of fan games, introductions, player competitions and the kids' dunk contest that defined the first two years. Whether the fireworks that closed the inaugural night return is likewise unannounced. What is certain is the scene: a closed brick street, a temporary court, two basketball teams a few days from the real thing, and a crowd that did not have to buy a ticket to be there.