The name of the game: consumer power!

WHEN THE 2ND ANNUAL BLACK ENTERPRISE/ Pepsi Golf and Tennis Challenge wound to a close last September, a few things became clear. First, the tournament's first-year success--in terms of corporate support as well as participants' excitement--was no fluke. This year's tournament was just as big a hit and some.

Second, while this impressive group of roughly 900 successful African Americans happily spent about $2 million over the Labor Day weekend, they will just as happily with hold that money to send a message about the political viability and economic clout of African Americans nationwide. No sooner had this year's BE/Pepsi Challenge ended, than publisher and CEO Earl G. Graves announced that the 1996 BE/Pepsi Challenge would not be held at the La Quinta Resort and club in La Quinta, Calif., as planned. In protest of California's pending racist policies, next year's Challenge has been moved to the Doral Resort and Country Club in Miami.

This decision is aimed at California's governor, Pete Wilson, one of the nation's most vocal opponents of affirmative action. "It would be against everything BLACK ENTERPRISE stands for to channel the considerable economic clout of this event to a state where the governor has made the elimination of educational and economic opportunities for African Americans the foundation of his gubernatorial policies and his campaign for higher office," says Graves. "Moving this type of big-ticket event away from California should send a clear signal to the state's business leaders and its governor that California's assault on affirmative action measures will not come free."

The move to boycott California in 1996 was not made without input from many of those who attended the BE/Pepsi Challenge. In fact, whether courtside, poolside or between holes on one of PGA National Resort & Spa's four golf courses, the plan to convene in La Quinta next year, which was announced earlier this year, was one of the hottest topics of discussion during the weekend.

"This group of people represent the highest echelon of African Americans, both as business executives and entrepreneurs," notes Johnny Graves, executive director of the tournament. "They want the world to know that it is not acceptable to play a political race card and think that African Americans are going to stand idly by. We are in a political as well as a financial position to make the state of California feel the heat."

A VICTORY WITH GOLF AND TENNIS SPONSORS

This is not the first time that the somewhat activist nature of this group has shown itself When the 900-plus participants at the 1994 BE/Pepsi Challenge realized that the list of 27 corporate backers did not include a single manufacturer of golfing or tennis equipment, they were incensed. A few hundred of them made their feelings known through letters to several such manufacturers. It's no coincidence that the 1995 sponsorship roster included golf equipment makers Titleist and Ping as well as two of the biggest names in tennis equipment, Penn Racquet Sports and Spalding. The newcomers support "bears testament to the success of our sales staff, as well as the power of our participants as a consumer group," says Earl "Butch" Graves Jr., BLACK ENTERPRISE vice president of advertising and chief operating officer. "The folks who were at the Challenge last year were eager to see if their letters had made a difference. It was gratifying to show that, in fact, they had. These people are not willing to be ignored as consumers. They spend too much money in these venues to settle for that."

The manufacturers themselves acknowledge the need to be more solicitous of the African American market--particularly in golf. The market has existed for years without recognition (exclusion from private courses did not keep black golfers from playing)."When considering the future of the sport, African Americans possess the greatest growth potential of any demographic group," says Craig Bowen, Titleist's manager of minority promotions. "Titleist was extremely proud to sponsor this year's BE Challenge and welcomes the opportunity to build a strong relationship with African American consumers."

NEW EVENTS, NEW PRODUCTS, NEW BUSINESS

The sole (no pun intended) sports sponsor of the inaugural event, Reebok International, returned this year, sponsoring several of the weekend's most popular happenings, including a daily five-mile walk, "City jam" aerobics class, a beginners golf clinic and a highly competitive three-on-three basketball tournament. The basketball events (which included a Long Distance Shootout sponsored by AT&T) produced the upset of the tournament, as they were dominated by the only female participant, Rene Williams, a marketing rep from New York. She outscored 13 men in the shootout and (along with Seattle Supersonics power forward Sam Perkins) beat the tournament's winning team in an exhibition game. Among her opponents in that game were Lloyd Ward, her Central Division president of Frito-Lay, and his son, Lance.