Sports Review
PUBLISHER
Ernest H. Pitt
EDITOR STAFF WRITERS
Craig T. Greenlee Rolando Simmons
Roscoe Nance
PRODUCTION Steve Zimmerman
? Vx.nnnaMH Trnhnn PHOTOGRAPHERS
- Joanna Kelly J.D~SclTW5Trrr
Sonja J. Covington Joe uameis
Melissa Howell Max Dunhtll
Hats off to Circle City
In six short years, the Circle City Classic hair
become the nation's preeminent black college foot
ball game.
Annually, it is second only to the Bayou Classic,
which features Orambling State and Southern Uni
versity, in attendance among games below NCAA
Division I-A. This year's game between Jackson
State and Bethune-Cookman drew 53,822 fans from
across the nation, marking the sixth straight year
that attendance has increased. *
The Circle City Classic has reached this lofty
status despite being played in Indianapolis, a city
that has no black college and no exceptionally large
black population. It has become more than just a
football game. It's an event -- a week filled with
numerous activities.
Black Entertainment Television has carried the
game since its inception. This year, BET aired
Video Soul live from Indianapolis the night before
the game. The week also featured the Princess Cir
cle Pageant, a parade and a black college fair.
Over the last six years, Indiana Black Expo,
which sponsors the game in conjunction with the
Indiana Sports Corp., has raised more than SHX).(XX)
for scholarships with proceeds from the game.
The game itself has been a success because of
the caliber of teams thatllave competed. Mississippi
Valley State, featuring Jerry Rice, played Grambling
State in the inaugural game in 1984. That game
drew 40, 752, and the standard was set.
Other games have featured Mississippi Valley
vs. Tennessee State; Central State vs. Florida A &
M; Central State vs. Tennessee State; and Florida A
& M vs. Jackson State. ~?^
" But the real reason for the game's success is its
organization. Black Expo and the Indiana Sports
Corp. have been in the business of staging events
for decades. Their expertise is what gives the game
a bowl-like atmosphere. Those two agencies are
what set the Circle City Classic apart from other
games that seem to crop up in other cities, try to
make a fast dollar, then disappear almost as quickly
as they appeared.
Those Johnny come lately games would do well
to take notes from the Circle City Classic.
Black Cotteg* Sports Review * published by Black Sports Inc . 617 N. Liberty St Winston
Sat?m. N.C. 27102. UnsoWled manuscripts and photographs win not be returned inquiries
should be addressed to Ernest H Pitt Publisher. Black College Sports Review. PO Box 3154,
Winston-Salem. NX. 27102.
PHOTO CRCDrrS: Covw photo ?? Win*ton- Salem Stale quartarbacfc Kenny Jones by The
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can. Baton Rouge Community leader, Birmingham Times. Carolina Peacemaker. Carolina
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Coming
Next
Month .
The November issue of
Black College Sports
Review wttl give you an
inside look at the upcom
ing '89-'90 basketball sea
son. Included will be pre
season reports on teams
in the historically black
college conferences and
more. Be on the look-out
for this special section in
the next issue of BCSR.
The Sports Column
Black college ADs will have
to be crafty in the boardrooms
In what clearly will be a ease of the rich getting richer and
the poor becoming increasingly poorer, big-time college foot
ball programs are putting the pinch on corporations for some
very big dollars. Pretty soon, you may venture to a football
game between say, Georgia Tech and Alabama and find that it
has been renamed the "AT & T Georgia Tech vs. Alabama"
game. ? ' ?
That is a slight exaggeration to be sure, but that is where
the big colleges are headed these days. They arc looking in that
direction because that is where the money is. Schools like
Georgia Tech think they can raise up to SI00,000each week -
that's right, every week there is a home game ? during the
football season by finding well-heeled corporate sponsors.
It is not a bad idea, given that big-lime college sports are
virtually scmiprofessional anyway. But a question arises: What
about smaller schools like Florida A & M, Grambling,
Howard, and Morehouse?
Can any of these riches come their way? Probably not.
Because of the television exposure and the wealth of their
alumni, bigger schools always have had an advantage. Now
they will use theix contacts and clout to monopolize this grow
ing market regarding corporate sponsorships.
Somehow, the black colleges must find a way to not be
left out Too much money is at stake. We have seen beer,
liquor, and cigarette distributors rally behind black college ath
letic events. Black college games are good exposure for those
kinds of products, mainly bccause black consumers are among
the most loyal in the marketplace-,
While black colleges welcome support from those indus
tries, it is likely they would consider it an extra blessing if
some other mainstream companies came into the fold. How
docs the "AT & T Bayou Classic" sound? Wouldn't the "Sprint
CIAA Basketball Tournament" have a nice ring to it?
Black college athletic programs do a heck of a job just
staying in business. But the time has come to look past simply
trying tolumv<rday-to-day. As we head for the 1990s and on
into the year 2000, the way college athletics conducts business
will ehange dramatically.
Black colleges, not necessarily through any fault of their
own, already have fallen behind in one area. Colleges and uni
versities across the country (some of them small schools), are
capitalizing on the cable television and satellite TV explosion
by having their games televised locally and across the nation.
Thank goodness for Black Entertainment Television. If it
weren't for BET, we'd never get to see Grambling or FAMU on
the tube.
While black colleges arc for the most part restricted to
BET, other schools - some of them the size of black colleges -
- are looking into such ventures as pay-per-view and buying
their own time on ESPN and other cable outlets.
Without question, a new day, a new age of doing business
is upon all of black college athletics. We can only wail and see
whether or not black college athletic directors will prove to be
as crafty in the boardrooms as their teams are out on the foot
ball field.
?Barry Cooper
1?OQ D"i" 3