Southern University System President Slaughter defends his role in Bayou Classic

Photo: Southern University System President Ralph Slaughter

By JORDAN BLUM, Advocate Capitol News Bureau

SHREVEPORT — Southern University System President Ralph Slaughter argued Friday that the Bayou Classic football event might not be broadcast on national television today had he not taken over coordinating duties in 1998.

Slaughter took the opportunity at the annual retreat of the Southern Board of Supervisors to remind the members who run the campuses of Southern University that a decade ago NBC was ready to cut its ties with Southern and Grambling State University.

Some members of the Southern Board of Supervisors in June had unsuccessfully attempted to take the Bayou Classic coordinating duties from Slaughter, who oversees all the Southern campuses.

They wanted Southern’s Baton Rouge campus to take over and funnel more money straight into the athletics department.

By the late 1990s, the National Broadcasting Co. was frustrated with declining advertising sales and not happy about paying television rights, Slaughter said.

“Without the television, the game is just another HBCU (historically black colleges and universities) event,” Slaughter said.

That is when Slaughter said he led the charge to negotiate a “time buy” with NBC.

“We bought the four hours (of TV time) at a price of $1 million guaranteed to NBC,” Slaughter said.

“That is why we still have television. The presidents of Southern and Grambling thought I was crazy. I asked them to trust me.”

Some board members questioned whether the appropriate amount of Bayou Classic revenue was going straight to Southern’s athletics department.

Since state schools cannot legally make such guarantees, the finances were shifted though the universities’ private, nonprofit foundations. Today, those are the Southern University System Foundation and the Grambling Black and Gold Foundation.

The funds go through the private foundations. Their detailed budgets are not public record. Slaughter said he was hesitant to discuss the finances at the retreat Friday with The Advocate present.

Board Chairman Johnny Anderson of Baton Rouge, who was one of the leaders pushing for campus control in June, said he is OK with taking a wait-and-see approach and evaluating the situation after this year’s Bayou Classic.

“The will of the board is the will of the board,” Anderson said after Slaughter’s presentation.

The event brings in about $1 million annually to the Baton Rouge campus, Slaughter said.

“That’s more than all the home (football) games combined,” he said.

“The key is marketing and relationships,” Slaughter said regarding the success, remaining vague about any details.

The Bayou Classic’s title sponsorship with State Farm Insurance Co. is critical, he said. But there are other issues to resolve in order to bring in more sponsors without representing a conflict of interest against any of the sponsors of the Louisiana Superdome.

One of those potential conflicts could be worth $500,000 annually if it can be worked out without violating the terms of the Superdome’s sponsorships, Slaughter said, declining to name specifics.

Chip Forstall of New Orleans, the board’s newest member, said he better understands the “general concept” of the Bayou Classic, although he looks forward to still reviewing specific numbers.

Forstall said he wanted to see Slaughter’s presentation so he could better determine which office should oversee the Bayou Classic events.