The people running the Gulf Coast Classic and the man auditing them agreed on remarkably little in March 2009 — including, as it turned out, how many people had attended the game.
Taylor Hodge Jr., president of the Gulf Coast Scholar and Sports Foundation, made his case in writing. When the Classic between Alabama State and Southern took root in Mobile as a true classic in the genre of historically Black colleges and universities, he argued, the controversy over its $355,000 in public start-up funding would blow over.
Supporters come, Hodge wrote, “to relate so passionately to a ‘classic’ in the genre of historically black colleges and universities. To them, the ‘classic’ is more than a football game … similar to the annual Alabama/Auburn football game. We are certain that when the ‘classic’ reaches that level, the specter of controversy will be erased.”
It was an ambitious benchmark. The Iron Bowl is not merely a game in Alabama; it is a fixed feature of the state’s identity.
How the Classic got here
The Gulf Coast Classic had existed for 35 years, but for most of that time it was simply an Alabama State home game played in Mobile against various opponents. The city gave it a $40,000 stipend in 2007.
The 2008 edition was something else entirely: a revamped event modeled on the Bayou Classic in New Orleans and the Magic City Classic in Birmingham, newly managed by the Gulf Coast Scholar and Sports Foundation. Mayor Sam Jones initially called for $450,000 in city funding. The City Council trimmed that to $275,000 in a budget compromise. Add $50,000 from Mobile County and $30,000 from a state tourism fund, and the public stake reached at least $355,000.
The audit that followed showed a deficit of more than $188,000 — an amount nearly identical to what the two schools were still owed. Southern was to receive $250,000 under the contract and Alabama State $225,000. At least one vendor reported not being paid.
Two counts, one turnstile
City Council President Reggie Copeland, whose questions prompted Hodge’s letter, was unpersuaded by the answers.
The dispute reached down to the most basic fact available. Copeland said he had an actual turnstile count putting attendance at 10,732. The foundation stood by a figure of 22,428, derived from what it called “our ticket sales and distribution.”
“Freebies,” Copeland said.
He then did the arithmetic aloud. “If the GCC had attendance of 22,000 at 15 dollar per ticket, that’s $330,000 in revenue, is it not? Add the $275,000 from us, the $80,000 from the county and the state, the $125,000 from sponsors and all the proceeds from the step show and the mayor’s luncheon, I’m not sure how it is they came to have a deficit. That comes to $810,000, not including miscellaneous revenues. That should have been enough to pay everybody in full. How come checks are bouncing? It just doesn’t make sense to me.”
The foundation’s own figures showed revenues of $576,005 against expenses of $764,546.
The demand for documents
Copeland said he would keep pressing for bank statements, canceled checks, invoices, contracts and whatever else documented the Classic’s finances.
“That’s my next step: just let me look over all the paperwork connected to your financial transactions,” he said. “Just let me see them, that’s all. What’s the big deal with that?”
Hodge answered that an independent audit had already done exactly that. “The auditor was given bank statements, every bill paid and deposit made with vendor invoices and the audit substantiated the validity of the revenues and expenses,” he wrote. “We have answered questions far and above what is required in our performance contract with the city.”
He also questioned why the Classic was being examined more closely than comparable events. “The expense line items that are in question are considerably less than the same line items for similar events that take place in the city,” Hodge maintained. “We put together a shoestring budget and ran it with the Board, a committee and a shoestring staff; all with less money than we thought we would have. We think we did well by the teams and the city.”
What the weekend actually produced
On the economic impact that justified the subsidy, the early evidence was not encouraging. Hotel and restaurant interests reported that, with some exceptions, the Classic generated no noticeable business beyond a typical mid-November weekend.
The foundation was awaiting an economic impact study by University of South Alabama economics professor Semoon Chang, which Hodge said might establish the game’s true impact. It could not immediately be determined whether, how much, or by whom Chang was being compensated.
Hodge said the foundation had taken up several of Copeland’s suggestions from a Feb. 2 meeting. A title sponsor was plainly needed, and he said an agreement in principle was in place for one covering 2009 through 2011, though he named neither the sponsor nor the amount. Stricter ticket-sale requirements on the two schools were also planned, with an eye toward filling more hotel rooms.
City officials and the foundation were scheduled to meet March 18 to recap the venture. Hodge called the inaugural true Classic “an overwhelming success.” Copeland wanted to see the bank statements.