Feature Story

By Ashley Toland Editor

Behind council’s ‘Classic’ fight

By Ashley Toland

Editor

Should it have been a question of all or nothing – or in this case, $450K or $40K – and is the Classic now not really going to be a “classic?”

Mayor Sam Jones requested a $410,000 increase in this year’s allocation for the Nov. 15 Gulf Coast Classic football game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. The increased funding was supposed to guarantee the creation of a “true classic,” where Alabama State University, which has played a home game here for the past 34 years against different opponents, would play Baton Rouge’s Southern University, as they did last year, for the next four years.

The Classic did not get the full increase, but the council did eventually compromise to give the game an additional $235,000. But according to Classic Director Steve Harrelson, since the council did not vote for the full increase, there is no longer a guarantee the game will be played here for the next four years, which is why the additional funds were requested in the first place.

Mayor Jones’ Chief of Staff Al Stokes says technically Harrelson is correct. Contractually the game does not have to be played here for the next four years now, since the full amount was not allocated, but he feels that is a “cynical” way to look at it.

Stokes is confident they will be able to raise the funds to meet the full $450,000 through some of the councilors’ discretionary funds and private sponsorships. He says when it is as successful as they “all know it will be,” it will not be an issue.

He reminds that the GMAC Bowl needed help in its infancy and the city provided that funding – giving it nearly $1 million in its first year. After the guys from Detroit stepped in, the city eventually reduced its funding to $150,000 annually. Stokes hopes the success of the Nov. 15 game will lead to a similar sponsorship.

At the Oct. 7 Mobile City council meeting, one of the most heated meetings in recent history, council members Clinton Johnson, William Carroll and Fred Richardson, who are black, alleged racism against the other four white council members and threatened to hold other future projects hostage with their votes if the councilors did not vote to fully fund the Classic.

After much debate, the $275,000 compromise came with affirmative votes from all of the councilors, except members Reggie Copeland and Connie Hudson.

Copeland, who is widely considered the “sports guy” on the council, felt he was excluded in this entire process and was startled to see the massive increase for this game.

“I became aware of it about a month before the meeting, and I just about fell out of my chair,” Copeland said

He said when it was first proposed the game was supposed to be aired on ESPN and have a major sponsor, neither of which he said turned out to be true. He pointed out the GMAC Bowl had a national television audience its first year, as well as teams traveling to Mobile over their school breaks.

Copeland also voiced concerns that last year only around 16,000 tickets were sold to the same game between Alabama State and Southern and that the time of the game at 6 p.m. on a Saturday would reduce the economic impact of the event, as he believed most people would just drive over and back from Baton Rouge and Montgomery.

“The Alabama State band isn’t even staying two nights. They’ve only booked one night,” Copeland said. “Shane Aldridge (with the Mobile Area Hotel Association and General Manager of the Courtyard Marriott) said they haven’t seen increased bookings for that weekend. They check it every week,” Copeland said.

Aldridge told Lagniappe while they were always happy to see any event, large or small, that brings in people to fill rooms, this is not one that packs them out on a city-wide basis – at least not yet.

“It’s not one of those events where we say ‘oh we’re going to be full this weekend.’” He noted however the downtown hotels do see a greater bump from this than the others in the area, for location reasons.

There are also conflicting accounts on ticket sales to date.

Councilman Clinton Johnson repeatedly said at the Oct. 7 council meeting the support for this game was already apparent, as evidenced by the fact 8,300 tickets had been sold.

Copeland said that number is not true and it is his understanding the tickets have not even been printed yet.

“Remember how Clinton kept saying 8,300 tickets had been sold. That’s just not true. A survey was sent out to students and alumni asking them whether they would rather play the game in New Orleans or Mobile and 8,300 said Mobile, but not that they were coming to the game,” Copeland said.

Al Stokes declined to comment on ticket sales, but remembered that figure being thrown out at a finance committee meeting.

At press time, Harrelson said he had “no idea” what the exact sales were, but his best “guestimate” was “locally around 3 to 4,000, around 10,000 from Baton Rouge and about 3,000 from Alabama State. He said the number Johnson referenced was an offer posed to Southern’s season ticket holders.

“They were given a choice as part of their season package – they could either attend the Bayou Classic (in New Orelans) or the Gulf Coast Classic – 8,200 checked the Classic,” Harrelson said.

Another issue Copeland raised was the numerous rules violations Alabama State is facing. He questioned if the school would even be able to play in a game like this over the next coming years.

According to an AP report, in May of this year the NCAA accused Alabama State of 24 rules violations in four sports and lack of institutional control.

“Nearly 500 of the 668 alleged instances of rules violations involved ineligible football players being allowed to work out in the off season. Forty of them stemmed from football players whose grades were changed without the knowledge of the instructors,” according to the report.

The school did not contest any of the violations and is awaiting the NCAA’s ruling.

Stokes says he does not feel any of this will affect the Classic.

A spokesperson for the NCAA said they will not comment on pending cases.

Copeland said there were things that could have been looked at to increase its economic impact and warrant such a large increase, like changing the time of the game. But he feels this was a done deal before the council had any opportunity to offer any input. Copeland says Stokes approached him prior to the vote and practically begged for his support.

“Al Stokes said to me ‘I’m pregnant, don’t abort me.’ I told him I just couldn’t do it (vote for it), not like it was,” Copeland said

Stokes’ due date is Nov. 15, and with the heightened interest in his “pregnancy,” there is no doubt the health of his “baby” will be scrutinized. Stokes says he is ready and expects the city to enjoy the fruits of his labor, so to speak.

“I was at a game a few weeks ago in Jackson (Miss) where Southern was playing Jackson State. There were 47,000 people there, and over half of them were there with Southern. The people who are against this game (the Classic) know zero about it. The proof will be on Nov. 15,” Stokes said.

Ashley Toland is Lagniappe editor. Contact her at ashleytoland@lagniappemobile.com.

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