WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Please do not be deceived by
ESPN televising HBCUs on ESPN+, Thursday Night ESPNU HBCU Game of
the Week or Friday Night Lights (Howard vs. Morgan State). JSU has been
playing lights out football in front of record FCS crowds this season, and the
best this monopoly ESPN can provide as coverage is ESPN+. Why?
I get it that they have billion-dollar contracts
with Power 5 schools and multi-million dollar deals with lesser conferences. If
transparency was part of the equation, all would see that the playing
field is not leveled for HBCU conferences. HBCUs need
the same income streams as Alabama and Mississippi State in order to be
competitive. Scholarships, equipment costs, supplies, travel, conference
affiliation fees. facility maintenance, medical and to a lesser degree at our
schools, salaries and benefits. cost money. In fact, lots of money. All cannot be
covered in a ticket price to a game and/or student activity fees.
And these expenses are not covered by State
appropriations as some fans wrongful believe. Fund raising is a
major component to any program success.
All HBCUs are struggling, including JSU, FAMU,
Howard, etc., due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lost revenue of the 2020
athletic season. It may take many years before FCS athletic programs will
have the necessary cash reserves to move forward with major upgrades within
their programs, especially for those sports that do not generate income.
This is a delicate balancing act and why a major television contract with ESPN
is long overdue and necessary for the SWAC and the MEAC. Our collective survival is at stake
When we are televised in prime time, we eat
steak. When we are live streamed on ESPN+ platform, we get chicken
salad. You can't survive solely on chicken salad and compete with the big
dawgs.
Think about this ... 43 years the SWAC has been
dominating FCS football in attendance with the most iconic brands in college
football. Why are we not on ESPN every week in prime time on the ESPN main
platforms? Until you can explain this phenomenon, the playing field
is not leveled regardless if your alma mater sells-out every home game. If you are blacked-out on main stream TV, you are not making money. Period.
Our HBCUs desperately need that ESPN prime time
television revenue to survive and the capital that comes from annual alumni fund raising/corporation sponsorships. The difference is clear between the SWAC and that fat television contract ESPN has with the SEC.
Don't get it twisted that full-house means full-athletics account and level playing field. Game day attendance is only ONE very important piece of a complex athletic business financial model.
Now the rest of the story...
