The Caddo Commission agenda for Thursday has a proposal to fund $100,000 for "The Shreveport Bossier Kickoff Classic." If approved, these funds will be paid from the Oil and Gas Economic Development Fund. The earliest this measure could be adopted is March 20.
The ordinance did not have any accompanying details. Comments by the sponsor Stormy Gage Watts advised that the game would be held Labor Day Weekend (if the actual day was stated I missed it). The announced teams were Grambling State University and Langston University, and the game will be played at the Independence Bowl.
Langston University is located in Langston, Oklahoma. It is the only historically black college in Oklahoma, and it is the westernmost four year public HBCU in the U.S. The enrollment is listed at less than 2000 students. It is a six hour plus drive from Shreveport.
Other than that, no other facts were revealed at the work session yesterday about the proposed game. It was stated by Gage-Watts that the unidentified promoters were successful in promoting football games in Texas.
The Shreveport Bossier Sports Commission has asked the Commission to commit these funds to help underwrite the game. Gage-Watts says the game will be an economic benefit to Shreveport Bossier.
The last Shreveport Classic football games was in Sept. 2022 between Grambling and Northwestern State. The attendance at that game was approximately 12,600. Both of these schools are within easy driving distance of Shreveport, and both have a large number of alumni in the Shreveport Bossier area.
In 2022, Grambling's enrollment was 5,070. Northwestern's enrollment was 9,389. (This information along with Langston enrollment was obtained from the internet and believed to be accurate.) Collectively Grambling and Northwestern's student populations exceeded the football game's attendance.
It is very doubtful that Langston has many alumni in the area. It is very unlikely that many Langston students and supporters will drive to Shreveport for the game.
Much more information is needed for a reasonable review by the Caddo Commission of this proposed expenditure. "Economic development" is always the justification for expenditure of public funds to underwrite special events, especially one day happenings. And one can count on the Sports Bureau, which is an arm of the Shreveport Bossier Tourist and Convention Bureau, to release highly inflated projections of the projected economic benefit from the game.
The Commission has just voted to fund $100,000 to help with property standards in the City of Shreveport. And it will most likely pass a measure to increase the sales taxes on a very successful truck stop/convenience store that will greatly impact the residents of Hosston. How this proposal to spend $100,000 on a football game is in the best interest of all the residents of Caddo Parish is certainly an open question.
Stay tuned.