3 Ways Sports Organizations are Connecting with HBCUs

Howard University student Summer Brown as she takes part in the NBA HBCU Fellow (Courtesy of Carol Dudley).

Too often in today’s world, the good things come from the bad. May of 2022 marked two years since the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The public demand for social justice and the betterment of the treatment of Black people has sparked a civil rights renaissance like never before.

Sports organizations have not shied away from this. In fact, more have gone out of their way to be a part of those efforts to bring about a more inclusive society and lift those who come from diverse backgrounds. One of the biggest beneficiaries of this has been Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Carol Dudley has seen it first hand as an Employer Relations Manager at Howard University. She has taken note of the changes since the spring of 2020 and believes more intentional hiring is going on for sports organizations with HBCU students and alumni.

“I do think it’s fabulous because it’s not just targeting folks who have an athletic background. They’re reaching out to those kids in engineering, computer science, business, and then of course all the other majors. I love the idea that they don’t just look at us for roles just for the sport itself … it’s like ‘how about working for us?’ And that’s probably different than a lot of things,” Dudley said.

So how exactly is your favorite team or organization connecting with HBCUs? Are they creating pipelines for those students? What about HBCU-themed events? What about helping with those HBCU athletic programs?

We’ll discuss all that and more on the latest blog here on The Breakdown: how are sports organizations connecting with HBCUs?

1/Professional opportunities

The push from the sports organizations has been key due to the professional opportunities being extended to HBCU students. There have been entire sports leagues that have committed to more efforts based on giving HBCU students a pipeline for careers.

• The NFL recently partnered with four HBCUs — Howard University, Morehouse College, Meharry Medical College, and Charles R. Drew University — to allow select medical students from these schools to work within an NFL club’s medical staff for clinical rotations.
• The NFL also has the HBCU Open House event that gives these students the chance to speak one-on-one with NFL executives and personnel, with departments including development, football strategy, data and analytics, talent acquisition, experience programs, and beyond.
• The NBA has an HBCU Fellowship Program of its own, which is designed to give HBCU undergraduate and graduate students career development opportunities in the business of basketball. Those opportunities include roles in marketing, corporate partnerships, ticket sales, legal, and social responsibility.
• MLB’s overall fellowship program has been around for several years now, but individual teams have made HBCU-specific ones. The Atlanta Braves’ program is similar to the NFL’s and NBA’s programs and is in connection with the Henry Louis Aaron Trust and the team’s stadium sponsor Truist. In honor of Aaron, Truist will donate $755 for every Braves’ homerun hit in 2022 (with a minimum end-of-the-year donation of $1 million) as well as aiding in the academic and professional advancement of students from HBCUs.
• The Texas Rangers’ have one as well, named after country music legend and Texas native Charley Pride. While the initial push in year one was to bring more diverse college students overall into the fold, Rangers Senior Vice President of Community Impact Karin Morris stated that the program’s next mission is to create a bigger pipeline for HBCU students moving forward, as well as cultivating relationships with those schools across the country.

2/TV & streaming deals

The television deals being put together for HBCU sporting events have been around for some time, but the increase in this coverage over the past two years has been profound. There are certain HBCU-connected organizations that are bringing these deals into the fold too, but the media industry's top dogs are also pushing these efforts forward.

• Allen Media Group will be launching the free digital streaming service HBCU Go in the fall of 2022. Not only will this app give AMG distribution rights to nearly 2,000 live games and other sporting events in the 12-school Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), but the programming will also be available on AMG’s other free platforms Sports.TV, theGrio, and Local Now.
• The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) — the oldest HBCU-based conference in the NCAA — agreed to a deal with ESPN in 2021 to broadcast its 22 men's and women’s basketball tournament games each year through 2024. Both the men’s and women’s championship games will be broadcasted on ESPNU.
• Speaking of ESPN, along with its network of channels and other top sports stations like NBC Sports Network, ABC, and Magic Johnson’s AspireTV, they combined to broadcasted over 120 HBCU football games in the fall of 2021.
• The NFL Network broadcasted the inaugural HBCU Legacy Bowl in 2022 to highlight the top draft-eligible HBCU graduates. The game itself is also broadcasted by HBCU alums and is in partnership with the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
• Major League Baseball and Urban Edge Network collaborated to co-stream MLB Network’s broadcast of the Andre Dawson Classic — an HBCU collegiate baseball tournament. The eight competing schools in 2022 were Alabama State, Southern University, Florida A&M, Prairie View A&M, Jackson State, Grambling State, Arkansas Pine Bluff, and the University of New Orleans.
• There is also an HBCU league pass now that gives you access to live HBCU sports, TV shows, marching band competitions, Pay-Per-Views, eSports events, podcasts, and beyond. This is a service provided on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung TV, Roku, right on your smartphone device, as well as HBCULeague Pass.com.

3/Branding & partnerships

Sports brands and sport-adjacent brands have been seeking partnership deals to promote HBCUs as of late. While the TV/streaming deals may give the athletes more visibility, a direct way these brands are giving HBCUs even more visibility is through these emerging partnerships, whether that’s on jerseys/uniforms or with events.

• Jordan Brand — Nike’s top sub-division named after the legendary NBA player — announced an outfitting deal with Howard University athletics that will begin in the summer of 2022. The first Jordan Brand HBCU was North Carolina A&T back in 1997, which is also in Michael Jordan’s home state.
• Howard will also continue with Under Armour’s Curry Brand (named after Stephen Curry) for its men’s and women’s golf programs. But it’s much deeper than that; Curry committed to helping fund the programs for six years in 2019 so the Bison golf teams could relaunch and get to the Division I ranks.
• Nike also got in on this HBCU craze with LeBron James’ Brand, as Florida A&M has been outfitted by the top athletic-wear brand’s subdivision since 2021.
• Toyota will be presenting the Pepsi National Battle of the Bands in 2022 at NRG Stadium, home of the Houston Texans, and various other sporting events. The Battle of the Bands pits nearly 2,000 members from eight top HBCU marching bands to recognize, support, and celebrate these longstanding programs.
• The NBA has really dove into the HBCU partnerships, but it expanded on that the most with its All-Star weekend events. The 2022 game held in Cleveland also featured the first-ever NBA HBCU Classic presented by AT&T between Howard University and Morgan State University. Not only was it simulcast on TNT, ESPN2, and NBA TV, both schools received $100,000 donations to enhance the student experience.
• Also with the NBA HBCU Classic, each player in the game got to meet with NBA team and league executives about networking and professional development, similar to the league’s HBCU Fellowship Program.
• Two Atlanta sports teams, the Hawks and Braves, have held HBCU game nights in recent years. That city specifically is imperative in building connections with its HBCUs, as Atlanta has four in its region and 10 overall in the State of Georgia.
• Nashville Predators President and CEO Sean Henry helped Tennessee State University athletics director Mikki Allen launch a fundraising program seeking to bring Division I men’s and women’s ice hockey to the school. If completed, TSU will be the first HBCU with D-I ice hockey.
• The WNBA — arguably the most progressive league in sports — has an educational program in the financial sector. The WNBA and US Bank are partnering with Project Destined to offer mentoring and financial education to women of color from HBCUs in Southern California.
• The World Games 2022 and Microsoft have partnered to present an HBCU Experience event to highlight Alabama’s Historically Black Colleges, Community Colleges, and Universities. The intent of the initiative is to promote collaboration between the HBCUs, HBCCs, and Microsoft, to encourage students in their professional endeavors, namely pursuing tech careers and opportunities. The World Games is a multi-sport event that is supported by the International Olympic Committee and is managed by the International World Games Association.

Conclusion: HBCUs are major sports partners

The push in recent years to connect with HBCUs has felt so genuine for these sports organizations. While some already had established relationships with these schools prior to George Floyd’s death, seeing how others have stepped up to the plate since then has been tremendous.

And there is no need to stop now. There are certain parts of society that went back to the days before 2020. But one part of the “new normal” that we must continue to see is uplifting those from diverse backgrounds/communities. As long as HBCUs are a benefactor of that idealogy, there is no telling where things could progress for these students as they strive to be the next sports business executives.

“For the most part, I think these athletes, and the teams, and the sports organizations have made a true commitment to diversify their talent pool and to hire. … You can’t say anything is wrong with the talent, the talent’s there,” said Dudley when discussing the new opportunities being provided to HBCU students by sports organizations.

Have you enjoyed our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion blogs here with The Breakdown? Check out these articles as well, including ways to build diversity and inclusion into your hiring practices, as well as navigating job searches as a diverse candidate.

As always, you can check out the emerging roles and upcoming events in sports and entertainment on TeamWork Online. Create your own path here and apply today!