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Black college football may
have been sentenced by a
court ruling from token TV
appearances to none.
By ED HILL
While shock waves from the
Supreme Court's decision to strip
the NCAA of its control over college
football on television rippled
from the Ivy League to the Pac 10,
none may have registered as high on
the Richter Scale as those felt by
historically black colleges, who may
disappear from the air waves
altogether.
Like the split-up of AT&T or the
rate of inflation, the subject can be
complicated and confusing, so
here's some brief background on the
decision before we go further:
In June of this year, U.S. District
Court Judge Juan Burciaga ruled
that the NCAA may no longer serve
as the colleges* sole agent in the sale
of TV rights. This opened the door
for the individual schools and/or
conferences to negotiate their own
packages to the networks (ABC and
CBS), the cable stations (WTBS and
ESPN) and individual stations that
carry college football.
Major conferences such as the
Southeastern, Southwestern, Pac
10, Big 10, Big Eight and ACC, as
well as such major independents as
Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and national
champion Miami, stand to
gain financially from the decision
while the smaller schools and lesserknown
conferences may lose what
little they were getting under the
original plan.
The NCAA is divided into four
classifications based on criteria that
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include the sizes of schools and their
stadiums, enrollments and numbers
of scholarships. The four are Divi
sion I-A, I-AA, II and III. One hundred
five colleges and universities
play football in Division I-A, 85 in
I-AA, 122 in Division II and 195 in
Division III. There are no
predominantly black colleges in
Division I-A.
However, several black schools
are classified as 1-AA. The MidEastern
Athletic Conference
(MEAC) and the Southwestern
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I-AA leagues composed . of
predominantly black schools while
Tennessee State and Florida A&M
are I-AA independents.
They will feel the sting of the decision.
Under the old setup, each of those
conferences and/or independents
was guaranteed one regional game
annually on either ABC or CBS.
The money earned from those appearances,
which totaled $680,000
per telecast in 1983, was distributed
to the individual schools or conference,
depending on the conference's
formula. In the MEAC, 70
percent of the money went to the
schools playing the game while 30
.
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the league money was divided
among the football-playing schools
in the conference while the other
share was put into the MEAC's coffers
and used for salaries, office ex
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penses and the sponsorship of nonrevenue-producing
athletic tournaments
and championships.
The SWAC formula is a bit different.
The two televised schools
received equal shares; another share
was distributed among the footballplaying
schools in the SWAC, and
the remaining portion went into the
conference treasury and was used
for office operations and tournament
sponsorships.
It won't be anymore.
*It is certainly going to impact
upon our conference from a finan"I
am especially concerned aboi
torunaments. Some of that reven
women's basketball tournament at
ships. With this decision, those eve
rial aspect," says SWAC Commissioner
Dr. James Frank, "That
money was something we looked
forward to in our budget planning.
Now that it may no longer be
available, we have to find some
other means of funding to offset
that."
"I am especially concerned about
the future of our conference tournaments,"
says Grambling Head
Coach and Athletic Director Eddie
Robinson. "Some of that revenue
was used for thfngs like our
women *s basketball tournament and
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our track and field championships.
With this decision, those events may
be in serious jeopardy.'*
Says MEAC Commissioner Ken
Free: "No question, it is going to
have a tremendous financial impact
on our conference. We looked forward
to the regional telecast and the
money it generated. Without it, we
are put in a position where we will
have to make some serious adjustments
in the coming months/'
The Division II schools, which
also reaped benefits under the old
plan, although not as many, will be
it the future of our conference
ue was used for things like our
id our track and field champion*nts
may be in serious jeopardy. "
? Eddie Robinson
affected too. There are two
predominantly black conferences in
Division II ? the Central Intercollegiate
Association (CIAA) and
the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference (S1AC) - and a few in
dependents such as Central State of
Ohio (last year's Division 11 runnerup)
and Cheyney State.
They'll lose both money and exposure,
though the ClAA's head
man says there wasn't very much of
either to begin with.
"As far as the CIAA is concernPlease
see Page 18
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