Deion Sanders sounds off on HBCU scheduling, asks "Where did the money go" from Fortune 500 companies

Deion Sanders doesn’t mince his words.

Never has, never will.

And as Jackson State’s now-second-year head coach seeks to further elevate the profile and resources of his HBCU, Football Championship Subdivision program, Sanders is eyeing ambitious facilities improvements for his Tigers’ program and also asking rather blunt financial questions.

“We’re trying to build a whole inclusive cafeteria right now, so that we don’t have to go across campus so that the kids eat right there, self-encompassing with ourselves instead of sharing it with another sport,” Sanders said on his recent appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast. “Those are huge things.”

Sanders also questioned, without specifics, where the funds had been distributed or spent that HBCU schools were set to receive in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic from the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was touted by numerous United States senators as set to provide some $1.5 billion in emergency funding to the schools. Additionally, Forbes reported last year that U.S. companies had pledged $50 billion to “Black communities, and most of it hasn’t materialized.”

“During the pandemic, you heard all the Fortune 500 businesses say, we’re doing this for HBCUs, we’re doing that,” Sanders said. “Where did the money go? Where did the change go? I haven’t seen any change. I want to know where did it go. I’m hearing all these endowments to all these HBCUs, where did it go?

“Somebody raise their hand and say, ‘OK, we did get the check and this is what we did.’ I haven’t heard that yet.”

But as it pertains to checks for his JSU program, Sanders vowed that the Tigers would work hard to improve their monetary agreements for games – and while he didn’t specifically name the Southern Heritage Classic, Sanders called Jackson State’s current scheduling agreements a “hustle.”

Organizers of the Classic said that the event has distributed $6 million apiece to each school’s football team and band through the 31 years of the contest; they likewise said the schools – Tennessee State has annually been the JSU opposition – would receive a guaranteed payout of $350,000 plus an additional $2 per ticket sold from each school’s individual box office.

Sanders was having none of it.

“It’s a hustle,” said Sanders, whose program has indicated it will participate in the 2022 event against Tennessee State but would void its contract for future meetings of the event held annually in Memphis. “We’re losing money, tremendously. This particular classic that you’re talking about, first of all, why would two colleges need a promoter? You’re two colleges and you have A.D.s, why would you need a promoter, that’s No. 1.

“Secondly, I think the fee was like over 30 years, $6 million. That’s peanuts. So by the time you take seven buses for the band, four buses for the players, couple (buses) for people, assistants, hotel accommodations, food, you’re out of that. That $180-200 grand, you’re out of that. So you didn’t make nothing. You really came up there on a blank trip. We gotta stop that foolishness. The first thing we need to take care of as HBCUs is the business aspect of everything, and that’s something we’re changing right now. We’re taking care of business.”

Sanders insisted he had heard from rival coaches who praised him for being outspoke against the current fiscal arrangements for some of the HBCU events.

“People on the outside and some people on the inside, coaches are calling like, ‘Hey man, thank you for saying that because we’re dealing with the same thing but we can’t say it,’” Sanders said. “So that’s a positive.”

Still, Sanders when asked by the hosts about his potential of “sticking around in the HBCUs for a long time,” Sanders declined to provide Tigers’ fans with any assurances of his potential future plans.

“I see myself making change immediately where I am today,” Sanders said last week. “I don’t look to tomorrow, man. I’m going to miss today if I’m looking to tomorrow.”