The most recent cope with PepsiCo continues the thread of main strikes by the convention, and PepsiCo’s Thompson mentioned the SWAC now warrants the identical therapy his firm makes use of in partnerships with the Nationwide Soccer League and Nationwide Basketball Affiliation—full portfolio, main with manufacturers, working with gamers.
In McClelland’s view, it not solely places the SWAC on an analogous sponsorship taking part in subject because the bigger school conferences, however provides gamers related visibility whereas taking part in in a convention that has produced 22 NFL Corridor of Famers.
“It provides them a much wider platform,” McClelland mentioned. “Extra importantly, after they see the SWAC, it seems identical to after they watch the SEC: We’ve the identical platforms, we’ve got the identical companions, we’ve got the identical degree of integration.
“So it provides you that feeling that, ‘Hey, I can go to a SWAC college, I can play on nationwide tv, I can go to a bowl recreation and play on ABC. … I can obtain all of these objectives that I need to obtain.’”
The SWAC additionally has its rivalry recreation in opposition to the Mid-Japanese Athletic Convention (MEAC) and the Celebration Bowl between SWAC and MEAC champions broadcast on ESPN by means of 2026. The MEAC, and each of these occasions, are sponsored by Coca-Cola, which has additionally backed Grambling State College for greater than 90 years, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Affiliation (CIAA) for upwards of fifty years, and the Bayou Traditional recreation between Grambling and Southern College for greater than a decade.
By establishing robust ties with the SWAC, PepsiCo just isn’t solely affirming its personal dedication to HBCUs however making a state of affairs during which two main trade rivals may do some collective good. Whereas PepsiCo’s Montgomery mentioned that if his firm’s chief competitor wished to assist extra HBCUs, work with college students alongside PepsiCo and “discover methods during which we will increase all boats, we assist that.” However he made clear that PepsiCo considers the SWAC “the very best and most premier convention” and appears ahead to working with it long-term.
McClelland was much less charitable. On his convention’s media day, he touted its establishments from Texas to Florida, its attendance that’s led the Division I Soccer Championship Subdivision (FCS) for 47 of the final 48 years (“It’ll be 48 within the final 49 years,” he promised), a number of regulation faculties, a number of dental faculties and a associate that it sees as each bit its equal. He eats their Nut Harvest cashews, he drinks “nothing however Gatorade,” and he has a warning for anybody who considers the MEAC or Coca-Cola his convention’s “rivals.”
“For my part, there is no such thing as a rivalry. … There’s just one,” McClelland mentioned. “One of the best is teamed up with the very best to make the very best pupil athletes and college students within the Southwestern Athletic Convention. To me, there is no such thing as a comparability, there is no such thing as a competitors, and it’s SWAC and PepsiCo.”
