Bayou Classic likely out of New Orleans
ROSCOE NANCE
BCSP Correspondent
Hurricane Katrina appears to have claimed another casualty, the Bayou Classic.
The premier game on the black college football schedule, which features intrastate rivals Southern University and Grambling State University is supposed to be played at the Louisiana Superdome Nov. 26. However, it appears unlikely that New Orleans will be sufficiently recovered from the devastating storm that left the city under water and forced its evacuation.
Estimates are that it will be 80 days before all
of the water is removed from the city and at least 16
weeks before it can be reoccupied. The New Orleans
Saints announced Sunday that they are looking into
playing their home games in San Antonio or at Tiger
Stadium on the campus of Louisiana State University in
Baton Rouge, La.
Officials at Southern and Grambling say they will begin exploring alternate locations for the Bayou Classic soon.
"There hasn't been any discussion yet, but it's something we have to look into very soon,'' Southern Athletic Director Greg LaFleur said. "It looks like it won't be in New Orleans, depending on what the situation is going to be in next few weeks. So much is going on right now. All the attention is on how we can help people in New Orleans. It's on the back burner. It hadn't been brought up.''
The Bayou Classic attracts more than 200,000 fans to New Orleans and pumps more than $30 million into the city's economy. LaFleur said that representatives from Reliant Stadium in Houston have contacted him about hosting this year's game, and Grambling athletic director Willie Jeffries said that a representative from a group in Los Angeles is interested in bringing the game to Tinsel Town.
Houston is a five-hour drive from New Orleans and is relatively easily accessible for fans of both schools. However, both Jeffries and LaFleur both prefer to keep the contest in Louisiana.
"Nothing would be wrong with moving it to Houston,'' LaFleur said. "(But) With two state institutions, we would like for our state to benefit from the game. There is no time the state needs assistance more than now. That would be taking a lot of resources out of our state.''
The Bayou Classic annually is among the best-attended games in Division I-AA and outdraws a lot of Division IA games. The inaugural Bayou Classic drew 76,743 fans to Tulane Stadium in 1974, and attendance has hovered above 60,000 ever since.
"We owe it to the people who have supported this game over the years to keep this game in the vicinity,'' Jeffries said, adding that he is holding out hope - as faint as it may be - the game can be played at the Superdome and he won't make a rushed decision to relocate it.
Jeffries said he will contact Superdome officials before making a decision about taking the game elsewhere.
"You never know what can happen. We're still under contract with the Superdome, technically. We want to adhere to the law. We can't pick up and leave.''
The mostly likely site for the Bayou Classic in Louisiana if the Superdome isn't available is Tiger Stadium or the Independence Bowl in Shreveport.
Tiger Stadium seats 91,628, almost 20,000 more than the Superdome. The Independence Bowl seats 53,000.
Both schools have several athletes from New Orleans. LaFleur and Jeffries said all of the athletes' families were accounted for. However, Southern's director of compliance, who has about 20 family members who lived in New Orleans, was trying to locate her two brothers on Friday.
Hurricane Katrina wiped out season openers for Grambling and Southern. Grambling's game against Alcorn State in Lorman, Miss., was postponed until Dec. 10. Southern's game versus McNeese State in Lake Charles, La., was cancelled because the schools had no common open dates to reschedule their contest.
Both schools have joined in efforts to provide relief for victims of the hurricane.
Southern's basketball arena, the F.G. Clark Activity Center, is being used as a shelter and is housing more than 500 evacuees. Grambling is sending food and money to victims, and both schools have enrolled displaced students from Dillard, Southern-New Orleans and Xavier.
© 2005 Azeez Communications, Inc.