In theory, the Big Apple Classic is a tremendous idea. Northern-based HBCUs alums are provided an opportunity to watch and expose their family to the culture of black college basketball in the world’s most famous arena. Don’t get me wrong – I love it.
But you hope for a more focused approach to how this event can best promote it’s mission. We all can appreciate the educational and health-awareness components to this event, and realize that they are the critical mass behind what athletics attracts to the venue.
Just one teeny suggestion – would it be too much to solicit participation from HBCUs that are in relative proximity to New York City?
If the goal is to increase awareness of black colleges in a region where the black college culture is not prevalent, why not bring the fans and the HBCU cultures closest to you? Between the Pennsylvania (Lincoln, Cheney) Delaware (Delaware State) and Maryland (Bowie State, Morgan State, Coppin State), there is a grand opportunity for black college basketball fans to watch solid teams competing with a backdrop of tradition and rivalry.
The northern HBCUs likely have a higher concentration of tri-state alumni just because of proximity. At Morgan, the campus population in the late 90’s from the NY/NJ was second only to students from the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area, and that trend holds true today. If you bring schools that actively recruit in the tri-state area to the Classic, prospective students in the area have a more meaningful opportunity to discover the student life and pageantry of those nearby institutions.
Not to mention, it would be slightly more cost efficient for the northern-most HBCUs to catch the train or bus to NYC instead of teams from Virginia. The 2009 Big Apple Classic features three teams from the Commonwealth; Virginia Union, Virginia State and Hampton, and Howard University. I get the rivalry that comes with these four schools, and don’t doubt for a second that alumni from all over the place are willing to travel to the Garden to see these teams throw down.
But I don’t see why Morgan-Delaware State or Bowie-Lincoln are any less compelling match-ups; especially when you have a better chance of getting more Philly and B-More natives to ride up to NYC than Virginians.
Think of it as an annual gathering for the northern HBCU family. The south has plenty of get-togethers for football and basketball and the north has this and the Whitney Young Classic for football. You can put on a lucrative and successful event without calling folks over the Mason-Dixon.
