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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast,

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Speaker 1: where we explore some of the big money issues in

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Speaker 1: the world of sports. I'm Michael Barn, I'm Scarlett Foo

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Speaker 1: and is something that is taking place now and it's interesting. Finally,

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Speaker 1: top college football teams are now providing windfall for historically

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Speaker 1: black colleges. UH. For example, UH, the University of California.

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Speaker 1: They're going to play Alabama State University and North Carolina

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Speaker 1: Central University and it's a big thing for the historically

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Speaker 1: black colleges. And with us to talk about that, who

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Speaker 1: has written a brilliant article on it is Bloomberg's Janet Lauren. Janet,

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Speaker 1: thank you for joining the Bloomberg Business of Sports. Thank

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Speaker 1: you for having me. Let's talk about that because ordinarily,

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Speaker 1: you know, you see uh, University of California, or they're

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Speaker 1: playing whatever note Dame or this and that, whatever, however

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Speaker 1: the matchup goes, but you don't see stuff like Alabama

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Speaker 1: State University, which is great and I'm so glad to

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Speaker 1: see it. Tell us about that and how this even

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Speaker 1: came about in the first place. So, as you know,

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Speaker 1: Power five schools have set these schedules years in advance,

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Speaker 1: in some cases decades in advance, and when there's an

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Speaker 1: opening in the schedule, they have to fill it, especially

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Speaker 1: a home game, because you know, they want the revenue.

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Speaker 1: You know, they have TV contracts and they have to

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Speaker 1: get the game filled. So in the case of u

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Speaker 1: c l A, they were supposed to play two home

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Speaker 1: games at the Rose Bowl with the University of Michigan,

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Speaker 1: and the University of Michigan pulled out. They wanted to

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Speaker 1: have their own home games, so they paid a fee

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Speaker 1: to u c l A, and U c l as

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Speaker 1: athletic director, decided that he wanted to fill these games

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Speaker 1: with hbc U s Martin Jarmond is the first black

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Speaker 1: a d at u c l A, and in fact,

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Speaker 1: this detail didn't get in the story, but his mother

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Speaker 1: actually went to North Carolina Central and he thought it

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Speaker 1: was important to um to to to play hbc US

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Speaker 1: and you know, certainly give them exposure. The marching bands

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Speaker 1: are a huge deal at HBCUs and that's even stipulated

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Speaker 1: in their contracts that they bring the marching bands. In

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Speaker 1: some cases, you know, they could be a hundred two

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Speaker 1: hundred marching band members. Um you know, some people are

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Speaker 1: more excited for the marching band than the actual football matchup.

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Speaker 1: So u c l A had this void and this

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Speaker 1: is how they filled it. And then Notre Dame decided

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Speaker 1: to play the Naval Academy, you know, one of their

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Speaker 1: longtime rivals in Ireland, so they also had an opening,

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Speaker 1: and they they opened up the game to Tennessee State.

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Speaker 1: And Tennessee State is coached by Eddie George, you know

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Speaker 1: Ohio State Heisman Trophy Award winner um and Notre Dames

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Speaker 1: coach is also an Ohio State alone, and uh, it

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Speaker 1: just you know, it just worked out for everybody. And

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Speaker 1: the guarantee for the Tennessee State game is a million dollars,

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Speaker 1: which is a nice amount of revenue for Tennessee State. Now,

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Speaker 1: keep in mind, Notre Dame is the richest school in

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Speaker 1: the Midwest with a twenty billion dollar damn it, so

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Speaker 1: they can certainly afford that guarantee. But for a place

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Speaker 1: Tennessee State, it's a huge amount of revenue. I did

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Speaker 1: a story last year about Tennessee State and their finances

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Speaker 1: and and all the money that they did not get

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Speaker 1: from the State of Tennessee for decades and decades, and

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Speaker 1: they were finally able to get about three hundred million

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Speaker 1: dollars from the state that that you should have been

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Speaker 1: given to them over time. But here's you a million

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Speaker 1: dollars in revenue that they can use, you know, for

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Speaker 1: athletics UM and it's you know, it's it's a nice

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Speaker 1: amount of revenue for these schools. I think that's super

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Speaker 1: interesting that UM U c l A. S A D

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Speaker 1: had the specific personal story that connected him with North

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Speaker 1: Carolina Central University. And I do wish that detail had

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Speaker 1: made it in because it all comes down to personal

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Speaker 1: decisions that lead to big momentous changes. But I want

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Speaker 1: pick up on on something you said, which is these

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Speaker 1: guarantees not youre dame. UH can certainly afford paying a

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Speaker 1: million dollars to Tennessee State, and Tennessee State wants the revenue.

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Speaker 1: I get that. But in terms of the actual play

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Speaker 1: on the field, how I mean, is this a good

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Speaker 1: matchup for say, Alabama State University North Carolina Central University

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Speaker 1: to play U C l A. Are we seeing an

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Speaker 1: even matchup here? Good question, and that that's been a

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Speaker 1: big criticism of these games, UH is you know they

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Speaker 1: have they have resulted in blowouts in the past, and

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Speaker 1: you used to see more of these games about a

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Speaker 1: decade ago. But because rules have changed in the way

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Speaker 1: that UH teams are determined who goes to the football playoffs.

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Speaker 1: UH you need to show strength and schedule, So a

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Speaker 1: blowout against a team that is not as good as

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Speaker 1: you doesn't really get you where you want to be.

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Speaker 1: INTERNM football games, you want to you want to win

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Speaker 1: against another big power five team. So you didn't see

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Speaker 1: these for a while, but that that has been a

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Speaker 1: big criticism of them because as we mentioned this tour,

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Speaker 1: you know, a decade ago there had been blowout So

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Speaker 1: if you obviously, if you get a game like u c.

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Speaker 1: L A against Ohio State, you're gonna have high ratings

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Speaker 1: for TV. But unfortunately, when you have a blowout game

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Speaker 1: like this, I wonder if some of the TV networks

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Speaker 1: are coming to these colleges and saying, hey, this is

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Speaker 1: you know the money we're paying for the TV rights.

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Speaker 1: This isn't exactly Yeah, we're not getting the bang for

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Speaker 1: the black here. Yeah, it's a good question. I'm not

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Speaker 1: an expert in TV, right, so I don't have a

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Speaker 1: good answer, but you know, I think the contract is

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Speaker 1: with the school and whoever the school ends up playing

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Speaker 1: and of course, changes in schedule do happen. I think

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Speaker 1: that's something that will definitely see more and more of

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Speaker 1: as these games take place. Um, we know that, for instance,

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Speaker 1: the u c L. A versus Alabama State will take

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Speaker 1: place September two. We also know, Janet, and you've reported

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Speaker 1: on this too in your story that uh arting in

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Speaker 1: U c L. A and USC will be joining the

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Speaker 1: Big Ten, and the kinds of teams that they will

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Speaker 1: be playing against changes as a result. Will they actually

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Speaker 1: have room in their schedule to do this beyond? I mean,

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Speaker 1: I get that this is going to happen this season

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Speaker 1: and possibly the following season, but once you're in the

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Speaker 1: Big Ten, will you have openings in your schedule for

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Speaker 1: these uh for these games. Yeah, it's a good question,

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Speaker 1: and that's something we mentioned in the story that we're

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Speaker 1: not really sure how things are going to shake out.

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Speaker 1: There just may not be the room for these matchups,

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Speaker 1: even though you know, schools may want to do it

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Speaker 1: to show their support for HBCUs it's all unclear and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, these big mega conferences schools and these big

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Speaker 1: mega conferences, they certainly want to play each other, So

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Speaker 1: that is to be determined. Many of the colleges the

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Speaker 1: HBCUs obviously they're trying to get a game against some

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Speaker 1: of these big colleges. And we talked about the money

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Speaker 1: that tended the state is getting. Alabama State is getting

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Speaker 1: almost six hundred thousand dollars, North Carolina Central they're getting

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Speaker 1: seven thousand dollars, and that is significant when you're when

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Speaker 1: you're a school, uh, and you're trying to work on revenue. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Is this something that we're going to see more of

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Speaker 1: in the future for these colleges and maybe the colleges

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Speaker 1: itself will then step up their football program. Well, it's

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Speaker 1: it's you know, we're not really sure how this will

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Speaker 1: go forward. As we talked about with schedules, it is

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Speaker 1: a lot of money, but when we talked about those

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Speaker 1: marching bands, to bring all those players, coaches in marching

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Speaker 1: band members, it's not inexpensive. In fact, the a D

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Speaker 1: at Alabama State was telling me that they're likely going

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Speaker 1: to make more money more bringing more revenue from from

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Speaker 1: home games or you know, games that are much closer

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Speaker 1: that it doesn't cost a lot of money to fly

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Speaker 1: your whole team across the country. So that's another consideration.

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Speaker 1: But it's you know, these certainly helps they fund other teams.

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Speaker 1: As the A, D, M and C Central was was

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Speaker 1: saying that, you know, it also helps the men's and

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Speaker 1: women's tennesse team because they're just taking in more revenue,

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Speaker 1: right that that money goes towards other sporting venues in

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Speaker 1: those colleges. The h h P C U s as well,

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Speaker 1: like you said, the swimming team or whatever I mean,

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Speaker 1: track and field. It really helps those colleges. To what

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Speaker 1: extent are these HBCUs recruiting athletes in anticipation that they

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Speaker 1: will start to play more of these games UM and

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Speaker 1: and get a share of the national spotlight. Well, as

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Speaker 1: the ad from Tennessee State mentioned, you know when when

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Speaker 1: potential recruits are coming to campus and they show them

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Speaker 1: the schedule and it says Notre Dame, that certainly helps.

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Speaker 1: Now we haven't talked about a big name in college

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Speaker 1: sports named Dian Sanders and what she's doing. You know,

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Speaker 1: he got he got, uh, he got the top recruit year,

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Speaker 1: but he is. He has gone on record saying he

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Speaker 1: does not favor these games because you know, it really

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Speaker 1: does hurt morale UM. But you know, if you look

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Speaker 1: at the history of Jackson State Um, you know who

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Speaker 1: came from there, Walter Payton. Of course I know this

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Speaker 1: because I grew up in Chicago when they won the

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Speaker 1: Super Bowl. Also on that team was Richard Dent, who

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Speaker 1: came from Tennessee State. And they have a long history,

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Speaker 1: you know, of producing NFL stars, but you know, decades ago.

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Speaker 1: But you know now as things have changed, they're not

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Speaker 1: as interested in going to HBCUs. I think the big

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Speaker 1: picture here speaks to, uh, the financial constraints that these

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Speaker 1: HBCUs are under. And you've written a lot about this,

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Speaker 1: and there are moves right now, um that are addressing

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Speaker 1: a lot of that. I know that President Biden's Build

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Speaker 1: Back Better Act, for instance, had a provision that would

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Speaker 1: be meaningful for these HBCUs. Can you tell us a

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Speaker 1: little bit more about the financial situation for these school

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Speaker 1: and um, some of the changes that have been made.

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Speaker 1: So if you look at the history of HBCUs, you know,

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Speaker 1: you look at who they've produced over time, they're a

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Speaker 1: good Marshal Tony Morrison, Spike Lee, Vice president, Kamala Harris.

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Speaker 1: And after the murder of George floyd In, there has

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Speaker 1: been a renewed interest. We've seen a lot of donations

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Speaker 1: go to them, you know, not only the most well

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Speaker 1: known schools like Howard and more House and Stowmen, but

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Speaker 1: also to some of the public UM HBCUs in the

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Speaker 1: South that I've written about, including Prairie View in Texas.

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Speaker 1: They received fifty million dollars from Mackenzie Scott and you know,

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Speaker 1: the Biden administration they had forgiven some capital loans to

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Speaker 1: some of the schools. It was about a billion and

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Speaker 1: a half dollars um. So there's there's more renewed interests.

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Speaker 1: We talked a little bit about Tennessee State that the

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Speaker 1: State of Tennessee, you know, was giving them about three

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Speaker 1: hundred million dollars for capital improvements because for for decades

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Speaker 1: AIDS they did not get the same amount of funding

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Speaker 1: as UM University of Tennessee did you know, proportion to

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Speaker 1: their enrollment. So there's there's definitely a renewed interest. The

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Speaker 1: landscape of college sports has changed. It used to be

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Speaker 1: the NZ Double A would have their saying bam that

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Speaker 1: set and all the A d s are okay, we

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Speaker 1: gotta go follow this. That has changed so much Now

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Speaker 1: the A d s and the colleges they're running the show.

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Speaker 1: I wonder have you heard any impact from the n

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Speaker 1: c Double A about the HBCU matchups. I don't think

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Speaker 1: they have much of a say in it, you know,

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Speaker 1: given you know they're they're more regulatory in terms of

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Speaker 1: the basketball and the tournaments because they don't run the

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Speaker 1: big football UM bowl games. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair

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Speaker 1: because n C Double A overseas. UH, men's college basketball

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Speaker 1: wins college basketball. But as we know, SEC Big ten,

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Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, those are the ones that call the

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Speaker 1: shots in this and uh. But it is good to

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Speaker 1: see and it's a great article. Janet Lauren our own

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg's Janet Lauren. Check out the article because it's very

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Speaker 1: good about the HBCU matchups. Thank you so much, Janet

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Speaker 1: for talking with us. This has been the Bloomberg Business

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Speaker 1: of Sports podcast where we explore some of the big

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Speaker 1: money issues in the world of sports. I'm Michael bar

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Speaker 1: you can follow me on Twitter at Big Bar Sports.

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Speaker 1: I'm Scarlet Fu on Twitter at Scarlet Fool. And you

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Speaker 1: can catch our podcast every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. And

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Speaker 1: by the way, you can catch this podcast wherever you

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