The Circle City Classic, which featured a game between the Morgan State Bears and the Miles College Golden Bears on Sept. 27 in Indianapolis, experienced the lowest turnout since the game started in 1984.
According to HBCU Gameday, the contest, held at Lucas Oil Stadium, which has a capacity of over 70,000, was reported to have sold around 3,000 tickets. That number represents just 4.3% of the stadium, raising questions about why the turnout was essentially nonexistent.
WTHR spoke with Alice Watson, the president and CEO of Indiana Black Expo, which runs the Circle City Classic, about the low turnout.
lot="/21868623726/site264.tmus/amp2" data-multi-size="320x50,300x250" data-multi-size-validation="false" rtc-config='{"vendors": {"prebidappnexuspsp": {"PLACEMENT_ID": "27198239"}}, "timeoutMillis": 500}'>“We compete with over 25 classics now. This is one of the originals. But we’re really trying to figure out how do we morph it into something that’s a little bit different and more meaningful for the community.”
Pointing out that most of the attendance in recent years came from people traveling from out of state, it is difficult to get 70,000 people to attend the game, especially with no local HBCUs and the participating teams being from different regions. Morgan State is located in Maryland, while Miles College is in Alabama.
“We attempt to fill a stadium, but the reality is if we hit a number that is somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 in attendance, that’s a huge success,” Watson said.
She also states that the costs to host an HBCU football game, especially with more classics being played nationally, have become costly, and it can cost a school at least $500,000 to bring a football team to the city.
HBCU Gameday reported that 30 years ago, the Classic would regularly draw 50,000 to 60,000 fans when the game took place at the Hoosier Dome and RCA Dome.
In 1994, the North Carolina A&T versus Southern attracted over 62,000. However, in recent years, those numbers have deflated. As other states started having their own HBCU classics, fans had more choices and no longer had to travel to Indiana to catch a football game.By the mid-2000s, attendance had already begun a downward spiral, dropping from 60,000 to just over 30,000. Going into the 2010s, the numbers went down to the teens.
Watson said, “We used to not have those challenges with HBCUs. And we’re now competing with PWIs — predominantly white institutions — where they’re paying a lot more for HBCU teams to come and play them. It’s like upwards to a million dollars.”
She’s not giving up and believes that the Classic should have a renewed focus on youth programming, showcasing the benefits of post-secondary education to children.
“We still believe that it’s a viable model,” Watson said.
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