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Challenge Looks For Ways To Build Its Brand
By Roscoe Nance
ORLANDO, Fla. MEAC defending champ South Carolina State held off SWAC champ Grambling 34-31 Sunday in the fifth annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge Presented By Disney.
But perhaps more importantly, the contest drew 21,237 fans to the 65,438-seat Florida Citrus Bowl, making it the second-best attended game in Challenge history and doubling last year's crowd of 10,723 building optimism that the game can have a successful future in the home of the Magic Kingdom.
"What more can you ask for?" MEAC Commissioner Dennis Thomas said. "We doubled last year's attendance. I'm happy. With people like Pete Derzis (ESPN Regional Television) Senior Vice President and Regional Manager and others who are solidly behind it, there is nowhere for it to go but up." A dramatic finish to the game capped a weekend of activities that created a bowl atmosphere for the Challenge, which relocated to the Sunshine State last year after three at Legion Field in Birmingham. Disney came aboard as the presenting sponsor with the move. Its presence greatly enhanced the ancillary events around the game. It hasn't had the same effect on attendance, however.
MEAC/SWAC Challenge executive director Nikki Godfrey of ESPN said she and her team in 2008 focused mainly on the operational side of staging the game.
This year greater emphasis was placed on marketing and creating awareness about the game in the community, which she says accounted for the increase in attendance, and next year the final year of the current three-year contract marketing will be emphasized even more.
"We're aware that it takes a while to grow the brand in the community and to create awareness with the local community,'' Godfrey says. "That's been our challenge." In spite of the increase in attendance and optimism that the game will continue to grow in its Central Florida home, Thomas, Godfrey and SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp all are taking a wait-and-see attitude about where the Challenge will be played after next year.
The commissioners and officials from ESPN, which owns the Challenge and is part of the Walt Disney Company, will discuss the game's future at a later date.
"We love the Orlando community,'' said Godfrey, who has managed the game for all five years of its existence. "It's great for us from a company perspective. It's a great destination. The student athletes love it, and we're able to do some unique things with it being here. We love it in this community. We would love to grow it here. We'll see what comes out of those negotiations." Sharp said he would like to see the game return to Birmingham, where the SWAC is headquartered. However, he acknowledges that Disney and Orlando have done an outstanding job of staging the game.
However, a drawback to playing the game in Central Florida is the unwillingness of Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman, MEAC schools in Florida, to participate. They play each other in the Florida Classic each year in their season finale at the Citrus Bowl, and they say the Challenge has a negative impact on their contest.
Having them compete in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge would guarantee a huge crowd. Florida A&M is the top draw in the MEAC and Bethune-Cookman is about a one-hour drive from the Citrus Bowl.
"To bring the game to Florida but not have Florida schools play in it hurts," Sharp says.
Thomas declined comment on the possibility of the schools at some point participating in the Challenge.
"It is what it is,'' he said.
© 2009 Azeez Communications, Inc.