2015 was a great year for black college life. The #ConcernedStudent1950 protest shook up the political landscape of Mizzou and the state of Missouri as a whole. Many HBCU’s experience an uptake in enrollment and HBCU football was put in the national spotlight courtesy of ESPN’s coverage of the first annual The Celebration Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia where North Carolina A&T defeated Alcorn State 41-34. However, 2015 was another winning year for HBCU sports, as ASPiRE TV consistently showed SIAC football on a daily basis.

One of the major grievances sports standouts have against applying to HBCU’s is that they don’t believe it will put them on the path to the NBA or NFL. Never mind the fact that both sports legends like Jerry Rice (Mississippi Valley State) and current stars like Ricardo Lockette (Fort Valley State University) come from Historically Black Institutions. They believe this because of the lack of “attention” that’s paid to HBCU games. “Attention” is a code word for media coverage on national platforms such as ESPN and CBS.

HBCU’s around the nation have cut their sports programs because it simply isn’t economically viable, considering that they don’t have the monetary resources of Division 1 colleges. Magic Johnson owned ASPiRE TV have stood in the gap for HBCU’s in the SIAC such as Tuskegee, Morehouse and Fort Valley State University. Just recently, ASPiRE showcased the SIAC championship game where Miles College defeated Albany State University. The game was shown in over 30 million homes around America, giving those two schools and their respective student athletes the attention they surely deserved.

In 2016, I want to see more HBCU games televised on ASPiRE TV. The landscape is changing. Economic empowerment became the central focus of millions of black people in America in 2015. Let’s put our support behind both ASPiRE TV and these HBCU sports programs so we won’t have to beg entities like ESPN to showcase our athletic prowess.

Did you know that Fort Valley State University, an HBCU, played host to R&B sensation Bryson Tiller’s first live interview? Watch the mini movie When @BrysonTiller Came To Fort Valley State University
!

Randall talks about the importance of HBCU’s and what these institutions can learn from Drumline.
https://soundcloud.com/authorrandallb/randall-on-what-hbcus-can-learn-from-drumline

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