Bayou Classic Gets Bigger, Richer

Black Issues in Higher Education, Dec 23, 1999 by Scott Dyer

Go-it-alone strategy puts more than a little sugar in Grambling's and Southern's bowls

NEW ORLEANS -- The annual Bayou Classic football game between Louisiana's two major historically Black universities has built a reputation over the past 26 years as the biggest Black happening in America.

Each year on the weekend after Thanksgiving, thousands swamp this city's French Quarter for the annual game between arch rivals Southern University and Grambling State University.

And in recent years, the Bayou Classic weekend has expanded to include events like the Battle of the Bands. On the eve before the game, the school's two marching bands stage their own competition in which they take turns strutting their musical prowess on genres that range from traditional marching music to jazz and even rap.

Other events include a massive job fair, beauty pageant featuring contestants from the two schools and concerts that this year featured Gladys Knight, the Ohio Players and others.

In all, the Bayou Classic is estimated to have a $50 million economic impact for the city of New Orleans on a weekend that otherwise might be the slowest of the year in terms of tourism. By contrast, the economic impact of the NCAA's Football Div. I-A Sugar Bowl on the city is approximately $135 million, according to Greg Blackwell, the Sugar Bowl's director of communications. Of course, that takes place on New Year's Day. And when the city hosted the National Football League's Super Bowl Championship in 1990, the economic impact on the Big Easy was $237.7 million, according to the report Superdome's 15-Year Impact on Louisiana, I975-1990, authored by Dr. Timothy P. Ryan of the University of New Orleans. The Super Bowl, however, is a two-week event where the teams involved, the press and the fans arrive in town as much as 14 days before the actual contest.

Despite the financial boost to the city, fans from both schools have complained for years about price gouging by hotels during the big weekend.

Designated as one of New Orleans "special events," the Bayou Classic is placed in the same category as the Sugar Bowl and Mardi Gras and the Super Bowl, which has been hosted by New Orleans a record eight times, as far as the hospitality industry is concerned.

That translates into dramatic price hikes for lodging that weekend.

For example, Raymond Downs, Southern University vice chancellor for student affairs, noted that his hotel room cost $89 on Thanksgiving night, but soared to $159 per night when the Bayou Classic weekend officially began the following day.

The high prices have prompted the Southern University Board of Supervisors to threaten on several occasions to look into the possibility of moving the Bayou Classic to other locations like Houston or Atlanta. But officials from both schools conceded that a change of venue would alter the flavor of the event.

For their part, Southern and Grambling have tried to hold the line on ticket prices for the big game, which fills the Louisiana Superdome every year. Tickets prices currently range from $15 to $30, and officials want to keep them that way to assure access for all fans, regardless of their economic background.

"You got some bowl games that don't pay the amount of the money that we get off of this," says Ralph Slaughter, the Southern University system vice president for administration and management. The gate alone generated $1.6 million this year, Slaughter said.

At the Sugar Bowl, ticket prices range from $85 to $125, according to Blackwell.

The Bayou Classic also has some astronomical expenses. Slaughter said, noting that the rental of the Superdome with security-related expenses totaled nearly $350,000 this year.

But even after the cost of lodging and meals for the two football teams, each school figures to receive a net about $600,000 apiece from ticket sales alone. Teams that partipate in the Sugar Bowl will receive a total payout of $11-$13 million from all activities surrounding the game, Blackwell says.

Southern University plans to use at least $100,000 of that money for scholarships, with the remainder going to the athletic program where is supports not only the football team, but also other sports. And a portion of the revenues are being set aside to expand the stadium on Southern University's campus and to build an adjacent parking garage.

Grambling State President Steve Favors said a major portion of his school's revenues will go for non-athletic scholarships, which the school desperately needs for its dwindling out-of-state student population. Nearly half of Grambling's student body has traditionally come from outside Louisiana, but the percentage of out-of-state students has plummeted to 40 percent over the past four years due to pressure by the Louisiana Legislature to raise out-of-state tuition to the regional average. As a result, out-of-state students currently pay about twice as much in out-of-state fees as they pay in regular tuition.

Southern University also has seen a decrease in out-of-state tuition as a result of the fee hikes, with its percentage of out-of-state students dropping from about 23 percent to about 15 percent in the past four years.