Legacy Bowl debate may be key to HBCU athletics’ future

ALVIN HOLLINS JR
Sports Editor

It has come to light via the Internet in recent weeks that the nation’s two NCAA Division I historically Black collegiate sports conferences – the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) – were proposing a revival of the former Heritage Bowl. The revived event would be staged under a new name, the Legacy Bowl, which would pit the football champions of the two leagues in a postseason extravaganza beginning in December of 2011, and will be televised nationally by ESPN.

The former Heritage Bowl was played from 1991 through 1999, with the league champions squaring off annually until 1996 when the NCAA reinstated the MEAC’s automatic postseason bid. Beginning in 1996, the MEAC sent an alternate squad, rather than the championship team, to the Heritage Bowl, a turn of events that put a damper on the game, eventually leading to the two conferences putting the event on hold

The proposed Legacy Bowl deal would reportedly net $3 million to be split between the two leagues, and to protect the integrity of the game, this time, the MEAC reportedly would forgo the NCAA playoffs so that its’ champion could appear against the SWAC winner, an idea which has ruffled the feathers of some MEAC team supporters. Those MEAC fans argue that forgoing the playoffs constitutes a “retreat” from being a fully participating member of the NCAA.

Fans who oppose the idea of the Legacy Bowl argue that it would hurt recruiting and send a negative message to the current players and coaches about their ability to compete for a national title. This is a point to ponder by decision makers at the member schools, particularly in the MEAC, which has two of the only three HBCUs – Florida A&M and South Carolina State (Tennessee State is the other) – to ever win an NCAA playoff game.

In fact, FAMU won the first FCS (then I-AA) title in 1978, and owns a respectable 5-6 record in the NCAA playoffs, including a breath-taking march to the national semifinals in 1999. South Carolina State has been very competitive in its recent playoff appearances, pushing their playoff opponent, FCS power Appalachian State to the limit in each of the last two years.

The potential bowl payout divided among the member schools of the two leagues, it is argued, could easily be exceeded by individual teams playing guaranteed games against major colleges. So perhaps it is the financial angle that the MEAC and SWAC are undoubtedly looking at, as they witness the huge amounts of money being generated by the major conferences for their member institutions through broadcast, marketing and sponsorship deals. And given the financial straits many HBCUs are in, both academically and athletically, the league commissioners find themselves under increasing pressure from member schools to generate additional revenue for them to plow back into their sports programs.

Even without the recent national economic downturn, the financial challenge of fielding a Division I sports program, which requires a minimum number of 14 sports be carried, along with other factors, has been causing HBCUs to stretch their annually generated dollars past the breaking point for years. The major schools recognized long ago that even with their huge alumni and fan bases, that a strategic business approach had to be taken to offset the deficits that come from running athletic programs which may have only two or three sports (football, men’s basketball) that generate a positive cash flow, and to insure the long-term future of these programs.

Since the 1980s that has led to the major conferences securing increasingly more lucrative broadcast contracts with national and regional networks, and long-term marketing and sponsorship deals with media and advertising power brokers such as IMG, ISP and others. In fact, the eternal “dash for cash” was the driving force behind the recent conference expansion talk among the Division I power conferences this summer, which saw some teams (Nebraska, Colorado, Utah) change leagues, while others stayed put; for now. Meanwhile, the HBCUs are in the unenviable position of working to stay relevant in the NCAA Division I conversation, both competitively (recruiting in particular) and financially.

HBCUs made the move from Division II to Division I in the late 1970s, riding the wave of the collective richness of their past athletic legacies without a clear strategic plan to sustain that success on a higher level. The current Legacy Bowl debate is one in which all stakeholders in HBCU athletics ; governing boards, presidents/chancellors, faculty and staff, coaches, students, alumni and boosters – need to seriously engage in, thinking not just about one football game, but perhaps about the very future of HBCU athletics.