Pigskin Payday
For many HBCU athletic departments, the annual
football classics keep their sports programs afloat.
By Add Seymour Jr.
Southern University Athletic Director Greg LaFleur was smiling long before his Jaguars defeated rival Grambling State University in the State Farm Bayou Classic on Thanksgiving weekend.
It wasn’t the prospect of winning the game that had him giddy. It was the financial windfall his athletic department was about to get out of the game.
“It’s a huge asset to our department,” LaFleur says. “For Division I-AA schools like us, it is the biggest game you have. There’s no other way you can generate that kind of revenue.”
With their huge corporate sponsors, big profits and wide visibility, the classics are the financial lynchpin for many HBCU athletic departments.
Baton Rouge, La.-based Southern, which has a $7 million budget for its 18-sport athletic department, is a prime example. Student fees and ticket revenues account for about two-thirds of the university’s athletic income. The rest comes from one game, the Bayou Classic.
“That game is the reason we can support our other sports,” LaFleur says.
