Even though Deion Sanders hasn’t been associated with HBCU football in several years, his brief tenure still reverberates.
On ESPN’s College GameDay, former Alabama coach Nick Saban turned football analyst, credited the former Jackson State coach for what he perceived as a lasting impact within the SWAC during a segment previewing Saturday’s HBCU slate.
“The HBCU is a conference, to me, that gets overlooked a little bit,” said Saban, who once suggested that Sanders paid now-Colorado wide receiver and defensive back Travis Hunter $1 million to play at Jackson State. “I think they play some really good football and there is a lot of big games. No one realizes the impact that Deion Sanders had on the SWAC.”
Said Desmond Howard on the set to Saban’s comments: “Speak on it, Coach.”
Saban then claimed that Sanders’ popularity influenced the SWAC to ink a “huge TV contract,” though the conference has never disclosed the terms of the league’s media partnerships.
“No one realizes the impact that Deion Sanders had on the SWAC… They got a huge TV contract, which has now enabled them to upgrade the quality of their programs, as well as provide better opportunities for their players to develop as people, as students….” – Nick Saban pic.twitter.com/kqKlRzs6Z7
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 31, 2024
“They got a huge TV contract, which is now enabled them to upgrade the quality of their programs as well as provide better opportunities for their players to develop as people, as students and have better careers as football players,” said Saban.
SWAC Commissioner Charles McClelland, during an interview with longtime Alcorn State broadcaster Charles Edmond, said the league benefited from the opportunities that were provided as a result of Sanders’ association with the conference.
“Everyone talked about Coach Prime and how he exited. But the one thing that I’ve always stated is that from a SWAC office standpoint, we wanted to capitalize … and I think we did,” said McClelland. “We wanted to elevate the brand.”
The commissioner quantified that impact in numerous ways.
“One thing nobody can deny about what Coach Prime brought was more eyeballs on us, and we’ve been able to enhance the conference from a financial standpoint, visibility standpoint, and television standpoint. And that’s going to continue to grow,” he said.
In an interview with 60 Minutes in 2022, McClelland said that Sanders “opened up doors for the Southwestern Athletic Conference that we could not get into” otherwise.
The commissioner indicated that Sanders’ impact then — or the so-called Prime effect — on attendance figures was notable for Jackson State relative to the rest of the SWAC but not necessarily extraordinary.
“When we track his impact from an attendance standpoint, it is measured in the thousands, not tens of thousands but in the thousands,” he said. “Some of our highly watched games definitely included Jackson State, but others included Southern, Florida A&M and Alcorn (State). So, people watched the games. Yes, Jackson State had more of higher watched games but across the board, our numbers were up. And that’s because more people saw the SWAC and saw it was a great brand of football.”
McClelland explained that greater interest in the SWAC meant an increase in attendance, viewership, and corporate partners, though it is unclear how individual member institutions have been aided.
“We’ve seen an increase in corporate partners wanting to be part of this. We’ve seen an increase in the number of games that our television partners want to put on,” he said. “So we’re going to be in a very good spot, and we appreciate it.”
