Bayou Classic hopes to break records this week as Grambling, Southern face off

NEW ORLEANS -- New Orleans officials are hoping for record attendance this year at the 44th annual Bayou Classic football game, which will see two Louisiana college teams compete for a shot at a conference championship.

Grambling State University and Southern University will face off for the chance to play in the Toyota Southwestern Athletic Conference Football Championship in Houston on Dec. 2.

Saturday’s game in New Orleans, and the events leading up to it, are not only a chance for supporters to cheer on their team; they are a celebration of Louisiana’s historically black colleges and universities, organizers said Monday.

“When we stand together, and think as one, and do as one, in support of HBCUs, we help to strengthen our future and the lives of students who attend them,” said Dottie Belletto, president and CEO of New Orleans Convention Co., the firm that manages the Bayou Classic.

The annual face-off between the two historically black universities has brought thousands of visitors to New Orleans over Thanksgiving weekend annually since 1974, after the event was launched in Shreveport in a 1973 test run.



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