By Ro Wright III
Recently, Southern University Jaguars played the Louisiana State University Tigers at LSU’s Death Valley Stadium to a sold out crowd of more 103,000 fans. As great as the idea sounded in the months prior to the game, the final score was embarrassing for Southern… 65-17.
The score could have been 100-0 very easily. Southern didn’t even get consistent movement on the field until LSU replaced all their starters with second and third string players. LSU scored an unbelievable 37 points in the first quarter alone.
The beauty of this game is the unity it brought to the city of Baton Rouge and the positive exposure it brought to the State of Louisiana. Both bands played together at halftime and the urgency of Unity was definitely promoted and received by everyone in attendance. The atmosphere was positive and it spread all over the city during the weekend.
The drawback from this game is that Southern only earned $750k for playing this game. Social Media projected disgruntled Alumni and other HBCU Officials feeling the amount was disrespectful. LSU rarely pays a guest opponent less than $1M. Perhaps there is something to learn on both sides.
The majority of HBCU’s are smaller colleges with less than 10k students. Most of the HBCU games don’t draw more than 20k attendees. Every now and then, a big game or a Classic will draw a big crowd but on the regular, HBCU’s do no match the attendance rate of larger Predominately White Institutions. So, the opportunities to reap huge financial gain from football games are limited as opposed to larger schools which make millions weekly off D1 football. When an HBCU gets the opportunity to play one of those games, it positions the school for a major payday. Even if it is less than the normal compensation which is normally paid to other large universities.
The downside is that, HBCU’s hardly ever win these games and many times great players are hurt. What is hurt even more are the reputations of the schools. There is a huge movement taking place around the country where young Black High Schools are beginning to choose HBCU’s as equivalent choices to major PWI’s. High School Five Star Athletes shocked the world last year when the students began trending that they would play football and basketball at HBCU’s when they had bigger options available. When these students see HBCU’s get humiliated and destroyed on National TV, it sends a message… if you have a chance to play at a Power NCAA School… take it.
It sends the message that HBCU’s can not compete on the highest level of athletics and those programs are better equipped to prepare our best athletes for the professional Sports. Jackson State Head Coach Deion Sanders broke silence this week and insisted if Black Schools play in those games they should at least be paid fairly. He suggested these games are not good for the smaller university.
The larger the university, the more money they have available for Scouting top players, locker room equipment, Promotions and Structure, Scheduling and Traveling, Health and Fitness Resources, and most importantly the level of the Coaching Staff. Smaller universities make it work with what they have. When a smaller college faces a larger college with so much money and support at their disposal, it makes it a battle between David and Goliath.
Next year, LSU will host Grambling State University. While the numbers may not be the same, one thing is for sure… it was a great experience for the city/state and it helped both schools financially.
