SU, GSU lose State Farm, regain brand

The Bayou Classic was considered the most significant black initiated sports entertainment event arranged in the United States at one time, next season Southern University and Grambling State University will reclaim the brand.
During its early years, the game was televised to the world while 72,000 people packed inside a brand new dome then considered an architectural modern marvel.
People from all over who had no ties to Southern or Grambling State would come to the event because it was considered “the sports happening for black people in the country and a major sporting event for anybody in the country,” Robert Tucker, executive assistant to the Mayor of New Orleans said in a 1976 promotional video.
With an impressive draw like that, companies wanted a piece of the lucrative $30 million economic impact pie, and State Farm got a piece.
State Farm became the title sponsor of the Bayou Classic nearly two decades ago and after this year’s Bayou Classic, that partnership will come to an end.
But people who will attend the Bayou Classic Thanksgiving Day Parade can still expect to see State Farm advertisements because it will be the sponsor for that event.
“State Farm has been a great partner for many years and it’s not usual that things change,” Dottie Belletto, president and CEO of New Orleans Convention Company said. “We are now entitled to take back our brand, the Bayou Classic now owns its own brand so it’s now the Bayou Classic presented by Grambling and Southern.”
And with last year’s Bayou Classic garnering the lowest attendance in its history, (40,715) it may be a blessing in disguise now that both institutions own the rights to the Bayou Classic.
It doesn’t help that the United States’ worst natural disaster happened in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina took away over 28,000 fans that would annually attend the game.
“People that didn’t have any affiliation with Grambling nor Southern but were from New Orleans would come to the game,” Erin James, Grambling State Bayou Classic Committee member said. 
James said the ploy to gain those fans back will be a challenge the new Classic committee will face.
“The Bayou Classic was an event and they participated in and we have lost those people so now it’s our job to get them to come back,” James said.
The year prior to Hurricane Katrina reported attendance for the Bayou Classic was 68,911 the task at hand is to get those people back falling on the promoters and both universities.
Belletto said that it is the company’s number one priority to try to bring people back to the Bayou Classic.
Under prior sponsorship, the universities had no ownership of their social media or website, and now they own those avenues and the brand and the Bayou Classic committee is working with NBC to promote the game more aggressively both locally and nationally.
“We’re putting out positive energy because it is about the student in those areas attending these schools and showing them support while giving them a future they can move on, and have families and comeback and have a tradition that they can be proud of and can build on,” Belletto said.
The Bayou Classic is the grandfather of all classics, both schools produced over 250 athletes that went on to play in the NFL, and with the 40^th year coming next year the committee wants to restore the prestige of the Bayou Classic.