In his first full season as Jackson State, head coach Deion Sanders led the team to its first SWAC title since 2007, earning the team its first appearance in the title game since 2013. With the championship comes the school’s first Celebration Bowl berth. Sanders also took the SWAC Coach of the Year honors for his efforts.
We must finish what we started! This whole @GoJSUTigersFB program is on a mission and we aren’t finished yet #CoachPrime pic.twitter.com/cPqNIKMpxu
— COACH PRIME (@DeionSanders) December 7, 2021
The Deion Sanders Brand Transcends The Field
The increased revenue that the school and city of Jackson has brought in since Sanders’ arrival has been astronomical in one year. The dividends they were seeing pre-Coach Prime don’t come close to what is being reeled in now.
Even before all the accolades of the season, Coach Prime reeled in the 55th ranked recruiting class, the highest ranked class in FCS history. He then put his money where his mouth is and signed his own son, Shedeur Sanders as the highest-ranked freshman signee in school history.
Sanders has become the single most important recruit of that class and most likely of the immediate future. The QB position is vital and the Tigers landed them a damn good one with the reigning SWAC Freshman of the Year.
Legendary 🔵 pic.twitter.com/e9L2OQ7A3N
— Jackson State Football (@GoJSUTigersFB) December 1, 2021
The Sanders effect goes beyond the gridiron though. It resonates in the classroom and in the Jackson community. An inner-city community which has seen it’s share of killings and shootings.
Sanders pleaded with the 53,000 in attendance at homecoming to stop the violence.
“We gotta stop the killing. We gotta stop the violence.”
Saturday's homecoming win over Alabama State wasn't the first thing on Jackson State football coach Deion Sanders' mind in his postgame news conference. It was violence in the city after a man was shot and killed in the city on Wednesday. https://t.co/HGeNFmo1nH
— CL Sports (@CLSports) October 17, 2021
Revenue In Jackson Burgeoning, Fans Flooding Area
In last Saturday’s SWAC title game win over Prairie View A&M a crowd of 50,127 fans packed Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium. That crowd was larger than any Group of Five title game crowd and almost topped the ACC and Pac-12 in fan attendance.
The attendance is a direct reflection of how much the revenue has increased with Sanders’ running the football program. When a university football program is excelling, the rest of the athletic department can breathe financially. Also, the student body becomes invested in the program. That’s what’s happening down in Jackson right now.
A SWAC championship game-record 50,128 fans attended today’s game at Jackson State’s Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Tigers’ average attendance over six home games this season was 42,293, an FCS record. JSU also had the previous high average, 38,873 in 1997. pic.twitter.com/k8YJhvbeJL
— Craig Haley (@CraigHaley) December 5, 2021
Jackson State Is One Big Black Party
It’s a party atmosphere in Jackson weekly as fans from all over the state decend upon JSU for home games now. Known as the “City of Soul,” the travel from in-state and out-of-state visitors has picked up, and the effect has seen a huge uptick in revenue and business. Customers have increases for hotels, restaurants, malls and other amenities, making Jackson the top spot in the SWAC for home games this season.
It’s remarkable, and the revenue jump is being felt throughout the city.
Via Visit Jackson, the city’s official tourism council:
“The city (of Jackson) has seen about a $30 million revenue increase and it can be largely attributed to the on-field success of a once-proud Jackson State Tigers football program. Under the direction of the great Deion Sanders, who’s core values of trust, discipline, toughness and belief in a higher power has led the charge.”
It’s been a huge culture change, in and around JSU for sure, but it’s also happening with HBCU athletics as a whole. Visibility and notoriety has exploded throughout the SWAC, MEAC and the once-discredited Black college football community. They now feel like they matter and that’s a direct reflection of being associated with Deion Sanders.
Revenue Jump Came In Major Time Of Need
The country’s businesses suffered and many even failed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The city of Jackson was not immune to these issues as many businesses were forced to close, which That just compounded a more serious issue of failing businesses in the area over the last 10 years.
One man walking in God’s vision and purpose has helped change that narrative.
— Melo Trimble (@MeloTrimbleStan) December 5, 2021
Nor rain, nor sleet, nor hail nor haters nor health will stop him.
‘We Have Truly Been Tested’| The Secrecy Surrounding Health of Deion Sanders Is Concerning https://t.co/WSqypBLIKc via @The Shadow League
— XGN MR.MLG777 (@mrmlg7) November 1, 2021
Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr.
#TheeILove #IBelieve
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