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SPORTS ZONE 1: Historically Black Colleges and Universities' Football Games

This fall, football games of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) will be televised to larger audiences. Eighteen games from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference will be shown nationally and regionally throughout the season.

An HBCU is "any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans," defined by the Higher Education Act of 1965. While the mission of these colleges remains the same today, people of all races and ethnicities attend HBCUs.

New Vision Sports Properties helped the three conferences by forming partnerships with television stations, advertisers, and production and distribution companies. New Vision's most important partnership was with Integrated Sports Media (ISM). This media company worked to convince television stations to air theses football games, including two national channels, Black Entertainment Television (BET) and College Sports TV (CSTV).

The Chrysler Group, makers of Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge automobiles, agreed to pay for airtime during halftime shows. This will allow viewers to see some of the college bands compete on the field without commercials. HBCU and other football fans consider these competitions to be just as legendary as the games themselves.

In addition, other sports teams will benefit from New Vision Sports' recent partnership with the Russell Corporation. The clothing and equipment company will outfit several HBCU sports at no cost, including men's and women's basketball and soccer.

--Written by Sarah Kurachek

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