Question for MEAC AGSers

[DSUrocks07]

What didn't you like about the "Heritage Bowl"?

[3rd Coast Tiger]

I'll hold my comments until MEAC AGSers post first. xthumbsupx

[HIU 93]

Never a set date, interfered with the playoffs, never a matchup of #1 vs #1.

[gr8ness97]

^ wut he sed....


Playoffs > Heritage Bowl. Why segregate any further?

[DSUrocks07]

Never a set date, interfered with the playoffs, never a matchup of #1 vs #1.

I'm trying to find out more information but I'm having little luck.

What were the attendance figures like?

[gr8ness97]

They sucked...thats all I remembered from it lol

[DSUrocks07]

They sucked...thats all I remembered from it lol

xlolx

Looking at this:

http://espn.go.com/media/ncf/1999/1218/photo/a_heritage.jpg

Its no surprise that the attendance was bad xnonono2x

(For the misinformed, that is the inside of the Georgia Dome behind the players.) xnonono2x

[813Jag]

not MEAC but I agree. No stable date, rarely a 1 vs 1 matchup. For for some people it was anticlimatic.

[813Jag]

xlolx

Looking at this:

http://espn.go.com/media/ncf/1999/1218/photo/a_heritage.jpg

Its no surprise that the attendance was bad xnonono2x

(For the misinformed, that is the inside of the Georgia Dome behind the players.) xnonono2x
that year was the last year. Southern played the Classic and SWAC Campionship game in back to back weeks. Nobody was going to ATL the next week. Our road schedule in November: Tallahassee, Houston,and New Orleans . Birmingham and ATL in December? equals broke fanbase. Southern went to the Heritage Bowl 4 straight years. Some people didn't go cause Southern had beat Hampton already. (big mistake)

[DSUrocks07]

What changes would have to be made to the concept of a "heritage bowl" for you to accept it?

[813Jag]

What changes would have to be made to the concept of a "heritage bowl" for you to accept it?
nothing, it should stay dead. the MEAC won't give up on the playoffs. so there will never be a 1st vs. 1st matchup. the game has been played before Christmas and on New Year's and attendance wasn't good.

[Mr. Tiger]

Attendance was actually decent. The last bowl game drew 30,000. The game died because the MEAC was committed to the playoffs and local support for the game wasn't strong enough.

[Big Dawg]

I remember FAMU turned the Heritage Bowl down a few times to participate in the playoffs. I do remember FAMU playing SU in Atlanta twice in 1995. Once for a regular season game and then again for the Heritage Bowl.

[R.A.]

I liked the Heritage Bowl in the format it was in. It was on NBC during Bowl season which gave our schools and conferences a national spotlight.

The MEAC's top teams still went to the playoffs, and during the holidays my family and I could head down to Atlanta to support and watch some good HBCU Football.

Honestly... I don't think the problem was that the SWAC 1st place team was matched up against the MEAC 2nd or 3rd place team... the problem was the money.

If schools and conferences were getting paid how they wanted too, the match ups and the conference rankings wouldn't have mattered to either the MEAC or the SWAC.

What needs to happen is that the game needed more entertainment to become a bigger draw... band competitions, concerts, that sort of thing, and the organizers should have included everything together in one ticket package, so if attendees wanted to attend one event, they had to pay for everything including the game as well.

And more promotion for the game is key as well.

I'm still for the Heritage Bowl, *as long as the format continues to allow the MEAC to key its automatic bid and potential at- large bids into the playoffs.*

[813Jag]

I remember FAMU turned the Heritage Bowl down a few times to participate in the playoffs. I do remember FAMU playing SU in Atlanta twice in 1995. Once for a regular season game and then again for the Heritage Bowl.
Both games were exciting. xthumbsupx

[bosshogg]

SCSU fans prefer to go to the playoffs. We want to compete for something bigger than a heritage bowl win....

[HIU 93]

What changes would have to be made to the concept of a "heritage bowl" for you to accept it?

The NCAA would have to retool the post-season play rule, so it is a moot point. I like the playoffs. That is one of my major issues with FBS ball. I hate the fact that good teams like UGA will be left out of the fighting at the end of the day because of "polls". In FCS, we have playoffs, and that is great. I think they should be expanded, but at least we have playoffs. The Heritage Bowl, for me, was a great idea in theory, but a bad idea in practice. I like the Pioneer Bowl concept, but that is Div. II, and they are not subject to the same rules as Div. I.

[813Jag]

Here's a question for those of you whose team played in the Heritage Bowl, what was the response to being invited? I know for me the first time Southern went it felt special, the rest of the trips kind of became expected because if we won SWAC or finished second we'd be in ATL.

[HIU 93]

Here's a question for those of you whose team played in the Heritage Bowl, what was the response to being invited? I know for me the first time Southern went it felt special, the rest of the trips kind of became expected because if we won SWAC or finished second we'd be in ATL.

It was a very lukewarm response by alumni. I was gone from Hampton by the time we started playing Div. 1 ball.

[Big Dawg]

Didn't Tennessee State play in the Heritage Bowl one year?

[813Jag]

Didn't Tennessee State play in the Heritage Bowl one year?
No it was strictly MEAC vs. SWAC.

[Bulldog87]

The problem is that only a few teams with large traveling fanbases would have to play each other for the game to be well attended. The local Atlanta population could careless. Examples,If SCSU played Southern you'd get a good crowd. Both schools travel well and drew good crowds to past Heritage Bowls. SCSU,FAMU,A&T from the MEAC would travel well as would Southern,Jackson State and maybe the 2 Alabama SWAC schools since they are close to the ATL. Without a matchup between some combination of the aforementioned schools attendance will be very poor. Grambling use to be a big draw and hopefully the still are. If so include the Tigers in the mix. Del State vs Mississippi Valley for examle wouldn't draw 15,000.

[DSUrocks07]

The problem is that only a few teams with large traveling fanbases would have to play each other for the game to be well attended. The local Atlanta population could careless. Examples,If SCSU played Southern you'd get a good crowd. Both schools travel well and drew good crowds to past Heritage Bowls. SCSU,FAMU,A&T from the MEAC would travel well as would Southern,Jackson State and maybe the 2 Alabama SWAC schools since they are close to the ATL. Without a matchup between some combination of the aforementioned schools attendance will be very poor. Grambling use to be a big draw and hopefully the still are. If so include the Tigers in the mix. Del State vs Mississippi Valley for examle wouldn't draw 15,000.

I'd be surprised if they broke 10,000 :(

I think that another hindrance what that the game didn't have much meaning outside of bragging rights...if it tied in with something bigger it could work...

[813Jag]

I'd be surprised if they broke 10,000 :(

I think that another hindrance what that the game didn't have much meaning outside of bragging rights...if it tied in with something bigger it could work...
I really think it should stay dead. it was a good idea at the time. the two leagues are going in different directions.

[R.A.]

I really think it should stay dead. it was a good idea at the time. the two leagues are going in different directions.

That's true, as the MEAC's 4 victories over the SWAC this season would indicate.:D

[813Jag]

That's true, as the MEAC's 4 victories over the SWAC this season would indicate.:D
for the most part those games were close.