Southern Heritage Classic founder Fred Jones Jr. was reminded just how important the annual football clash is to local businesses when he pulled into a carwash one day.

The owner tried to offer him a free wash as a thank you for the business he receives during the Southern Heritage Classic weekend. Jones respectfully declined the freebie but appreciated the gesture.

Founder Fred Jones says Southern Heritage Classic more than just a game

“He said he had to stand in the street and tell people he can’t take anymore,” Jones said. “The Classic has always been a big piece of business for him. He’s since sold that location and moved on someplace else, and I’ve lost contact. But at that particular moment, it just showed you the wide range of economic impact that he had to tell people that he couldn’t take anymore.”

The Southern Heritage Classic is an annual historically Black college football game between the Tigers of Jackson State University and the Tigers of Tennessee State University but is more than just a sporting event.

The game and celebration, which has been a staple in the city for more than 30 years, has become a cultural experience. It’s a reason for families and friends to get together and it brings millions of dollars into the city each year.

The Classic is one of the most notable weekends in Memphis, which is why Jackson State’s decision to no longer participate in the game was such a shocker to most locals. While the pullout raises questions about the economic repercussions, there is still a strong air of confidence that the Classic will continue generating significant dollars with a replacement team.

One last game

Jackson State plans on playing in the game on Sept. 10, but it notified the Classic in February that it doesn’t intend on participating any longer despite its contractual obligation with the Summitt Management Corp. to participate through 2024.

Summitt is suing Jackson State for breach of contract and the lawsuit states that it is also suing the Southwestern Athletic Conference for “wrongful interference with contractual relations.”

Southern Heritage Classic owner sues Jackson State for breach of contract

The lawsuit is ongoing. So just how important is the event to Memphis?

The Daily Memphian acquired the 2019 Southern Heritage Classic market assessment to help put in perspective how financially important the Classic is to the city. The assessment states that the direct economic impact of the Classic was $14.6 million with a total economic benefit of $29.2 million.

Memphis tourism president Kevin Kane said having the Southern Heritage Classic has been great for business.

“For the last three decades what the Southern Heritage Classic has done is it’s allowed us to extend basically our traditional summer season by an extra week,” Kane said “And of course the millions of dollars it brings into the economic community has just been unbelievable over the last 30-plus years. It’s an important part of tourism hospitality. It comes at a time of year where typically your leisure summer travel kind of starts to really slow down. Kids going back to school or what have you. So it’s a very important event in our community.”

More than a game

The reach of the Southern Heritage Classic is more than the football game. Wanda Taylor remembers when she first started attending events for the Classic weekend and now, she’s worked closely with the Classic as an event specialist for Hicks Convention Service for the past 11 years. When speaking about the cultural impact of the Classic, Taylor said she couldn’t even put into words how the entire city just comes together during that weekend.

There is something to do for everybody which is why the Classic has been so impactful.

Jackson State leaves Southern Heritage Classic

“It’s a way to promote our community,” Kane said. “It showcases Memphis. There’s concerts, there’s fashion shows, golf events. It showcases different parts of the community. You’ve had national radio and national television shows here. I mean, it’s really a promotional tool that allows us and really gives us the opportunity to go and showcase Memphis.”

According to the assessment, approximately 70,000 people participated in the events associated with the 2019 Heritage Classic and just under half of them were visitors to the city. The average amount spent per group was $450 and people visiting Memphis spent an average of one night in a local hotel. The assessment stated that because 20% of the visitors were joined by a traveler who did not attend any Classic events, the weekend brought an additional 4,416 visitors to the city.

This amount of traffic in just one weekend is important for family-owned businesses like Hicks Convention Service which has been in business for about the same time frame that the Southern Heritage Classic has been around. Hicks Convention Services is a special event rental company that Taylor says rents out more than 50 tents each Classic weekend.

“Absolutely, it is one of the biggest weekends (for the business),” Hicks said. “It’s definitely in the top three. I’m going to put it up there. It may be No. 1 for this business.”

The part of the assessment that raises economic concerns is the 30% of participants who said they most identify with JSU.

TSU had the highest percentage at 47.2%. Thirteen percent of people said they identified with both and 10.3% said they identified with neither. The percentage that’s at risk are the fans who said they mostly identify with JSU.

Tickets for Southern Heritage Classic go on sale Friday

Location matters

That doesn’t mean that all 30% of those people wouldn’t attend if Jackson State isn’t involved, especially since the weekend is about more than the game itself. Some of the alumni, however, may choose not to take the three-hour drive if their school isn’t participating.

“That’s the beautiful thing about the Southern Heritage Classic is it’s really used as kind of a reunion of adults,” Kane said. “Of alumni and people that are affiliated with those two institutions. It’s kind of used Memphis as a reunion of sorts. So it goes beyond just the student body of the school, the bands and the football players themselves. It really has a very wide and far-ranging net that it pulls in from.”

Jackson State being embedded in the tradition of the Classic for over three decades has helped enhance the Southern Heritage Classic brand. People who are affiliated with the school have had a strong connection to the event for so long. If the Classic were to replace JSU with a different program, it’ll take time for the school and its alumni to create that level of connection to the Classic weekend.

The location of the new school also matters. If the Classic can find a school that’s still within a favorable driving distance, that would help ensure that the new school’s fanbase would travel.

“We hope that with Jackson State leaving we get a good replacement,” Kane said. “I hope we get another good team to come in and start that relationship. Bring in lots of alumni and students.”