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| Florida Classic History - 2008 will mark the 29th Annual Florida Classic presented by State Farm. - The record for attendance at the game is 73,358, set in Orlando in 2003. - Since 1997, a total of 689,592 fans have watched the Florida Classic in the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium, an average of 68,708 per year. By comparison, the total attendance for the 17 years prior to Orlando was 765,529, an average of only 45,031. Between Orlando and Tampa, the Classic has drawn 1,383,905 fans. - The booming crowds in Orlando have helped the Florida Classic presented by State Farm pass the Bayou Classic (Grambling/Southern) as the nation’s largest football game between two Historically Black College/University (HBCU) schools. - In 2005, the game made its debut on ESPNU and was televised nationally. The 24-hour college sports network broadcasted the game live as part of a multi-year contract with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and a commitment to broadcasting HBCU games. - The series record is FAMU 17, B-CC 9. In Orlando, that record is FAMU 7, B-CC 3. Year by Year Results FLORIDA CLASSIC HISTORICAL SKETCH The Florida Classic is more than just a football game and more than an instate rivalry. It is now the largest football game between two historically Black Colleges in America, surpassing the Bayou Classic between Grambling and Southern in New Orleans and the top attended game in NCAA Division I-AA. Thanks to last year’s 70,112 crowd - the seventh straight game with 70,000 or more fans - the Classic has now drawn in excess of 1.3 million fans since 1978. The Florida Classic is born of a rivalry that has had all the angst and intensity of a professional wrestling storyline. There have been disputes over game sites, disputes that resulted in the series being suspended for two years (1983, 1984), not to mention Bethune-Cookman’s revival to make the series a competitive one in the last few years. With a new venue, nationally-regarded programs in both Tallahassee and Daytona Beach, crowds in excess of 70,000 the past seven years plus a world reknowned entertainment giant like Walt Disney World as the title sponsor, the sky now appears to be the limit for a game, whose fortunes seemed to be on the wane in the mid 1990s. THE CLASSIC'S EARLY YEARS Despite the obvious FAMU dominance of the series overall, the two schools drew ever-increasing crowds until they had to abandon their home stadiums for larger venues. Sites like the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, the Daytona International Speedway and Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee were the sites of some of those “home” games before the two schools agreed on a permanent site - Tampa - in 1978. In that first game in 1978, Florida A&M turned a 17-0 halftime deficit into a scintillating come-from-behind 27-17 win enroute to the inaugural NCAA Division 1-AA title. The series began in 1925, with Florida A&M winning 25-0. B-CC’s first win came a year later, 12-0 in 1926. At one stretch, the Rattlers won 19 straight games including a trio of sheer torch jobs in 1959, 1960 and 1961 with scores of 68-6, 97-0 and 76-0. The two schools went through a two-year hiatus in 1983 and 1984, when they could not agree on a playing site. But public pressure from alumni, fans and state officials brought them back to the negotiating table and they resumed the series in 1985. The renewal of the rivalry was as good as it gets, as Bethune-Cookman won a wild shootout, 31-27 in 1985. This is truly a series where the adage that “you can throw out all the records,” truly applies. CHANGE OF VENUE BRINGS REVIVAL The last nine years have seen the Florida Classic revived to the point that it has now overshadowed the drawing power of the Bayou Classic in New Orleans, between Grambling and Southern. The 1997 season saw a change of venue for the Florida Classic, as the two schools moved the game to Orlando’s Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium. That year’s affair was a rousing success, as 56,351 fans swarmed into the Citrus Bowl. But that 1997 crowd was eclipsed in 1998, when 66,245 packed the stadium for the game which determined the 1998 MEAC Championship and postseason invitations. In 1999, the Classic drew 70,125 fans to Orlando, the sixth-largest football event ever held in the Florida Citrus Bowl. But even that attendance was overshadowed by the 2000 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title game, which drew 70,719, for a 31-28 thriller won by the Rattlers. The 2003 game stands as the largest crowd ever in the series - 73,358 . Florida A&M holds an 17-9 edge in the meetings since the instate rivalry moved from a home-and-home scenario to an annual neutral site spectacular in Tampa Stadium in 1978. Overall, the Rattlers lead the 59-game series, 44-14-1. Bethune-Cookman has made the series more competitive since 1973, winning 11 of their 14 series victories during that span, including a 58-52 overtime win in 2004, which was the first-ever three-peat for the ‘Cats in the overall series, which dates back to the 1920s. With the advent of the firebrand coach Alvin Wyatt, Sr. at Bethune-Cookman, games have been more along the lines of the nail-biting kind, versus the traditional blowout dominance FAMU enjoyed for many years in the series. However, last season’s 26-23 overtime win for Florida A&M grandly ushered in the Rubin Carter Era in Rattler Football. Carter is an intense, detail-oriented coach who believes in focus, tempo and execution. THE MODERN CLASSIC Overall attendance for the annual Walt Disney World Florida Classic football game, presented by State Farm Insurance, has now surpassed the 1.3 million mark in 26 games dating back to 1978. However, the move down Interstate 4 to Orlando, with its’ plethora of tourist attractions and central location for virtually every fan in the Sunshine State, has turned out to be the catalyst for turning an already intense rivalry into the hottest ticket in Division I-AA and Black College Football. Last year (2005), 70,112 fans barged through the turnstiles at the Florida Citrus Bowl, marking an unprecedented seventh straight game with 70,000 or better fans in attendance. In 2004, the Classic drew 71,153 fans, just after the 2003 affair drew 73,358 fans - a Classic record!!! Beginning with the first neutral site Florida Classic game in Tampa in 1978, the 26 games through 2005 have drawn 1,304,180 fans. That works out to a per-game average of 50,161 fans. Since moving to Orlando in 1997, the event has drawn 618,376 fans in nine (9) years, for a per-game norm of 68,708. And with television of both the regional and national variety beginning to take interest in this game, with its’ colorful backdrop of football, bands and loyal fans and playing venue, the future of the Classic is ripe with promise. |
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