43rd Bayou Classic lives up to its billing, draws record crowd

5th December 2016   ·   0 Comments

With a focus on technology and family unity, the 2016 Bayou Classic, the annual gridiron contest pitting Southern University against Grambling State University, introduced new and exciting events to the weeklong festivities. Between the new events, celebrity star power and winning seasons in the SWAC conference for both GSU’s G-Men and the SU Jags, this historic Bayou Classic drew the largest crowd since its triumphant return to the Crescent City a year after Hurricane Katrina.

Often called the Black College Super Bowl, the Bayou Classic is widely considered the premier Black college sporting event and draws tens of thousand of alumni, fans, friends and former classmates to New Orleans every Thanksgiving weekend for networking, fellowship, fun and fierce competition.

Some 30,231 fans attended the Battle of the Bands and Greek Show and 67,845 fans made their way to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for the 43rd Annual Bayou Classic game – an increase of almost 5,000 attendees from 2015.

Grambling won the game, breaking a 21-21 tie in the series and earning the right to play SWAC East champion Alcorn State University in Houston, Texas this past weekend for the conference championship.,

The Bayou Classic’s diverse offerings bring an estimated 200,000 visitors to the Big Easy every November for the big holiday weekend, representing a major boost to the local economy.

“The Bayou Classic remains a winner,” SportsNOLA.com wrote recently. “While Grambling took home the trophy, the real winners were New Orleans and the state of Louisiana.”

“The Bayou Classic is more than a game,” says Dottie Belletto, President and CEO of New Orleans Convention Company, Inc. (NOCCI), the management firm of the Bayou Classic. “Business and technology have come to Bayou Classic in many forms – through the mobile app, Bayou Classic BizTech Challenge, IBM Cyber Cafe and more, Bayou Classic continues to grow as it offers something for everyone. As we go into the future, we look forward to what Bayou Classic will bring in 2017.”

The 43rd Bayou Classic marked the first time both historically Black schools entered the contest with unblemished conference records.

This year’s contest also marked the first time that fans were allowed to use a mobile app to cast their vote for their favorite step team at the Greek Show and their MVP for the game.

Hundreds of students gathered information from more than 30 colleges and businesses during the Bayou Classic Career & College Expo.

Attendees of the Bayou Classic Career & College Expo were able to apply for jobs and higher education programs on the spot at the brand new IBM Cyber Café.

Following the Career & College Expo, 68 students from all six Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Louisiana competed in the Bayou Classic BizTech Challenge, created in partnership with NexusLA. The winning team of the competition was awarded $10,000.

In other SWAC news, Grambling State University officials announced Wednesday that GSU President Rick Gallot has hired Paul Bryant as the institution’s next athletic director, effective January 1, 2017. Bryant, who has more than 25 years of experience in athletics and 22 years of coaching, has a strong track record of business acumen and sports success at South Carolina State University as director of athletics and previously as director of athletics at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and director of athletics at Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois. The hire is subject to the approval of the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors, and the hire has been included on the board’s December 8 meeting agenda.

“We had an impressive group of two dozen candidates, and quite a strong group of finalists for this important job,” Gallot said. “Bryant rose to the top and he was the choice of the search committee because of his tremendous experience and success, particularly his business knowledge and skill.”

Bryant has a two-year agreement with GSU. He will earn $130,000 annually, and the Grambling University Foundation has agreed to supplement his university salary with another $30,000.

“I am excited to lead one of the nation’s most historic athletic institutions, a school with a huge national and international brand, and I’m grateful to President Gallot and the search committee for this opportunity,” Bryant said. “We will address the issues that need to be addressed and take the athletics program to the next level.”

Paul Bryant succeeds Obadiah Simmons, who has served as interim athletic director for the last 16 months.

Bryant has been married to Shannon Bryant for 25 years. They have a daughter, Kayla, 23, an assistant women’s basketball coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a son, Paul Jr., 16.

This article originally published in the December 5, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.