Game’s backers see nothing but upside for HBCU popularity

John Grant, the executive director of the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl, is excited about the potential of the annual contest between the winners of MEAC and SWAC and has already noticed how the game is growing in popularity, he said at a news conference Thursday.

Grant, along with No. 18 North Carolina Central (9-2, 8-0 MEAC) coach Jerry Mack, No. 14 Grambling State (10-1, 9-0 SWAC) coach Broderick Fobbs and MEAC Commissioner Dennis Thomas gathered at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce to discuss the second installment of the Celebration Bowl.

The game at the Georgia Dome, is the next in a long line of contests that pit the nation’s best

HBCUs against each other. Grant and Thomas said this game is just following in the tradition of those before it and is providing a chance to give these HBCUs even more visibility than before.

“We had a over 11.8 million viewers of this game last year,” Grant said. “That means we had a lot of people ... tuned into this fantastic football game and they got to see a quality, competitive game.”

Fobbs echoed that sentiment and said he thinks the Celebration Bowl can grow to be an even bigger matchup than the Bayou Classic, the annual game between Grambling and Southern.

For Grambling and North Carolina Central, the trip to the Celebration Bowl is a little bit sweeter as both fell just short of earning a berth last season. Now that they are here, both schools said they are ready to reap the benefits that come with the additional exposure in the same ways North Carolina A&T and Alcorn State did last year.

“Any time your on we’re on this main stage, that means our program is on display, and we get a lot of phone calls because of it,” Fobbs said. “Our enrollment, it’s almost jumped by 70 percent because of this particular opportunity.”

Grant said Alcorn State and North Carolina A&T saw major increases in their enrollments after being the inaugural participants in the Celebration Bowl.

With the game moving to Mercedes Benz Stadium next year, Thomas and Grant both said they see potential for major growth going forward. Grant said simply having more time to work toward improving the game this year compared with the 109 days they had to put things together last year was a big help.

Additionally, they all said that by associating with ESPN and having the game televised on ABC it will be a great chance to attract a large viewership. But with the Celebration Bowl being in Atlanta, they said they hope that means they can bring in even more people to come watch the game in person and make waves as the first game of the bowl season.

“Any time a city can host the Super Bowl and the College Football Playoff and the Men’s Final Four — Atlanta knows how to do it, and that’s been proven,” Thomas said. “The city has embraced us, the sports council has embraced us, and so we think that this is progressively going to get better. And I predict in the very near future that you will see in the new Mercedes-Benz (Stadium), you will see a sellout for the Celebration Bowl.”