Bayou Classic, The

Most prominent African American annual college football game, now known as the State Farm Bayou Classic, which dates from 1974, when the Jaguars of Southern University met the Tigers of Grambling State University at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. The biggest football game of black America, the Bayou Classic—the “Battle of the Big Cats”—is both an important tradition in black college football as well as an integral part of New Orleans and college football history.

The annual Bayou Classic represents a tradition in black college football that dates back to 1892, when Biddle University in North Carolina and Livingston University in Alabama played the first collegiate football game between historically black colleges and universities. Early football games between rival colleges became major social events for the black community, with dances, parades, and other events developed around the football games.

The Orange Blossom Classic, started in 1933 at the Orange Bowl stadium in Miami, Florida, served as the earliest unofficial national championship game for black college football. Other annual classics—such as the State Fair Classic, held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas—attracted large crowds of spectators. All of these games proved important, but since the 1970s, the most prominent college football game featuring historically black colleges has been the Bayou Classic in New Orleans.

Every year in the fall, the Grambling State University Tigers and the Southern University Jaguars—both historically black colleges in Louisiana—face off against each other in the Superdome in New Orleans. For a number of years, the venue for the game was Tulane Stadium, but as the number of spectators grew, the event was moved to the much larger Superdome. The contest is also broadcast nationwide on the NBC television network, making the Bayou Classic the only African American college football game shown on national TV.

The Bayou Classic, held the first Saturday after Thanksgiving, is so popular that it brings in more than $1 million each year. The economic impact of the event on the two colleges is significant enough that both Grambling and Southern have consistently turned down National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) playoff events that conflict with the game. For Grambling and Southern, the decision to skip the NCAA playoffs has not been a tough decision since the profits from the Bayou Classic provide the majority of the money for each school's athletic budget.

The popularity of the Bayou Classic also involves the events that accompany the game. The annual halftime “Battle of the Bands” between the Grambling marching band, the “Marching Tigers,” and Southern's band, the “Human Jukebox,” is as popular as the football game itself. The performances, characterized by quickstep marching and high-energy music, are a crowd-pleaser for the thousands of screaming fans. Spectators are accustomed to seeing band members put down their instruments, sing or dance, and then pick up their instruments and play without missing a step. Other events on game weekend include fraternity and sorority parties on the night before the game and a job fair to help students of both schools get a head start on finding jobs.

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