HBCUs work to return to sports amid coronavirus

In the 100 years since the Southwestern Athletic Conference was formed, the conference home for some of the nation’s most storied historically black colleges and universities has always found a way to do more with less.

So far, schools in the SWAC have avoided the salary cuts, furloughs and elimination of sports that institutions elsewhere have resorted to as the coronavirus shut down sports.

As the days tick by with no clear answer for what a football season might look like this year, SWAC Commissioner Charles McClelland is certain of one thing.

“If we don’t have fans in the stands, from a revenue perspective it’s going to be extremely difficult for us to have a football season,” he said.

Teams in the SWAC as well as many other HBCUs across the country play in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Schools at this level earn some money from television contracts, but nothing like the multi-million-dollar deals for the Power Five.

In the SWAC, the main source of revenue from football comes from putting fans in the stands and there are no substitutes for that at schools that often have limited resources. The conference has led the FCS in average home attendance in 42 of the past 43 years at events where fans are entertained not only by the game, but the showmanship of their marching bands.

This fall, packing fans into stadiums at the 10 SWAC schools in five states from Texas to Alabama just might not be an option even if campuses are open.

McClelland said no decision has been made on the possibility of playing without fans.

“But I can tell you (in) the Southwestern Athletic Conference playing without fans would be a huge detriment to our overall business model, something we’d have to look at very significantly,” he said. “Because if we don’t have fans in the stands, it’s going to be difficult for us to pay the bills to put on our program.”

There are 107 HBCUs scattered across the country, and 21 of them play Division I sports, fielding teams in as few as 14 to as many as 18 sports each. Almost 6,000 students participate in sports at those institutions and thousands more play at the smaller HBCUs around the nation.

Prairie View A&M, which is located about 50 miles from Houston, led all HBCUs in sports revenue in 2018 by generating $18.6 million, according to the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. But that revenue ranks 149th among all college sports teams.