Four games involving historically black colleges and universities were canceled, in part illustrating an economic difficulty for games played at neutral sites.
Two neutral-site games — Southern University versus Tennessee State in Detroit on Sept. 5 and Jackson State versus Tennessee State a week later in Memphis — have been canceled along with Southern’s home game on Sept. 12 against Florida A&M. Jackson State also was forced to cancel its Sept. 5 season opener against Langston University, because Langston and other N.A.I.A. schools have been prohibited from playing before Sept. 12.
Dozens of games have already been canceled at the lower levels of college football with Division II schools placing a 10-game limit on the season, and N.A.I.A. pushing its start date back two weeks, but these games are the first at the Division I level to be quashed.
The cancellation of the Southern Heritage Classic in Memphis — the only decision that has been publicly announced — and the Detroit Classic underscore the financial vulnerability of neutral-site games during the pandemic, especially ones that are not underwritten by ESPN and thus depend more on live fans attending. A decision on the Sept. 6 game between Central State and Howard at the Pro Football Hall of Fame stadium in Canton, Ohio, will be made by July 1, according to an official briefed on the decision.
Dennis Thomas, the commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, said that ESPN planned to still go forward with a game between one of his conference’s schools, South Carolina State, and Grambling, on Sept. 6 at the Atlanta Braves’ former stadium.
“If you don’t have the backing of a multimedia company, the numbers are not going to make sense,” Thomas said.
Two neutral-site games — Southern University versus Tennessee State in Detroit on Sept. 5 and Jackson State versus Tennessee State a week later in Memphis — have been canceled along with Southern’s home game on Sept. 12 against Florida A&M. Jackson State also was forced to cancel its Sept. 5 season opener against Langston University, because Langston and other N.A.I.A. schools have been prohibited from playing before Sept. 12.
Dozens of games have already been canceled at the lower levels of college football with Division II schools placing a 10-game limit on the season, and N.A.I.A. pushing its start date back two weeks, but these games are the first at the Division I level to be quashed.
The cancellation of the Southern Heritage Classic in Memphis — the only decision that has been publicly announced — and the Detroit Classic underscore the financial vulnerability of neutral-site games during the pandemic, especially ones that are not underwritten by ESPN and thus depend more on live fans attending. A decision on the Sept. 6 game between Central State and Howard at the Pro Football Hall of Fame stadium in Canton, Ohio, will be made by July 1, according to an official briefed on the decision.
Dennis Thomas, the commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, said that ESPN planned to still go forward with a game between one of his conference’s schools, South Carolina State, and Grambling, on Sept. 6 at the Atlanta Braves’ former stadium.
“If you don’t have the backing of a multimedia company, the numbers are not going to make sense,” Thomas said.
First Cancellations Emerge for Major College Football (Published 2020)
Four games involving historically black colleges and universities were canceled, in part illustrating an economic difficulty for games played at neutral sites.
www.nytimes.com