Prairie View A&M head coach Tremaine Jackson has been making headlines in HBCU football since he arrived in Texas. Now the coach of one of the hottest teams in SWAC football is making waves ahead of homecoming.
Jackson posted on social media earlier this week challenging Prairie View A&M fans to sell out the program’s homecoming game against Lincoln University.
“ I got an issue. My issue is I just talked to Josh, our ticket guy, and he told me that the game isn’t sold out,” Jackson tweeted. “And I just can’t understand why the football game for homecoming at Prairie View A&M is not sold out.”
Though he said he didn’t understand, he did offer up a few reasons as to why the tickets hadn’t been sold out.
“I understand that you might not be used to filling up Panther Stadium and all the alums coming back,” Jackson said. “You used to be in another deal and it just wasn’t that many people. Well, now we have Panther Stadium, now we have, different things going on in the football program. So we need the game to be sold out.”
State-of-the-art HBCU/FCS facility
The facility that PVAMU calls home is almost a decade old as it replaced the 6,000 seat stadium back in 2016. It is a state-of-the art facility — one of the best in HBCU and FCS football — that seats nearly 15,000.
And it isn’t that the program isn’t doing well. PVAMU is currently 5-2 and 4-0 in the SWAC in Tremaine Jackson’s debut, and likely headed for a SWAC championship game.
“If the game isn’t sold out, why would you even come back here? Homecoming is about having a good time — for the game.
It makes sense, given those facts, that the game would be a hot ticket. But that doesn’t always happen at HBCU homecomings.
Do opponents matter too much?
Responses to Jackson’s tweet online were pretty telling. Many people reference the fact that PVAMU’s opponent is less-than-desirable. It is scheduled to play Lincoln University — a small school out of California that isn’t Division I or even a part of the NCAA. It is a school that routinely plays HBCUs and other FCS football programs in money games, much like when HBCUs play Power Five programs.
“Look, I get wanting to pack the stadium for homecoming — that makes sense,” one follower responded. “What I don’t get is why you’d want fans to watch y’all drop 50+ on a team that already canceled two games this season. Not everyone wants to see a scrimmage, but I get it.”
Another fan speculated that the perception of the opponent is also impacting enthusiasm for the game.
“To be honest, I’m hearing that a lot of the older alumni are turned off by our opponent this year,” she wrote. “I mean, with all due respect to Lincoln, they’ve been outscored 215-8 this season.”
Jackson responded to this line of thinking directly.
“Can’t do anything about that this year,” he said in response. “It’ll change when it changes. Right now be at the game.”
Prairie View isn’t alone
No two HBCU homecomings are alike, but many of them face a struggle to sell out the actual game. Meanwhile outside events — including tailgating — seem to grow in stature each year.
Tremaine Jackson isn’t the first HBCU coach to question this phenomenon, but he did spark a conversation that is worth having moving forward. Is the football game still the centerpiece for HBCU homecomings or has it taken a permanent backseat?
Let us know in the comments below.