Jackson State University paid $800,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by Summitt Management Corporation in 2022 after the school pulled out of the final two years of its contract to play in the Southern Heritage Classic football game.
The settlement documents were obtained exclusively by the Clarion Ledger through a Freedom of Information Act public records request. According to the documents, the lawsuit was settled on or about Oct. 31, 2022.
According to the lawsuit, Jackson State and Summitt Management Corporation entered into a five-year agreement on or about Sept. 10, 2019, for the football team to play in the Southern Heritage Classic. In February 2022, Jackson State said it would not play in the Southern Heritage Classic in 2023 and 2024.
On March 14, 2022, Summitt Management Corp., owned by Fred Jones, sued Jackson State and the SWAC for breach of contract. According to the lawsuit, the Southwestern Athletic Conference was included because it committed “wrongful interference with contractual relations” when it pursued Jackson State as a participant for a new football showcase event, the SWAC Classic. Jones told the Clarion Ledger in January 2024 that the lawsuit with the SWAC had yet to be settled. Jackson State’s VP/Athletic Director, Ashley Robinson declined to comment on the settlement.
For 29 consecutive years, fans and alumni from both schools planned their autumns around the game. Fraternities, sororities, dignitaries and tailgaters looked forward to meeting as soon as the gates opened on Wednesday and partying until Sunday.
The games were played at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis, halfway between the schools. The average attendance was 47,955. Then-coach Deion Sanders said in an Instagram post the day after Jackson State announced the withdrawal that the decision was made for financial reasons.
“Seven busses for the band. We have four buses with all our people,” he said. “And who else goes? Administration. Hotel accommodations. Food, all that…By the time we get back, we’re broke.”
There was a buzz in January 2024 among Jackson State fans that Jackson State could return to the Southern Heritage Classsic in 2025, but Jones dismissed the possibility, “There is absolutely no truth to the rumors that Jackson State and Tennessee State will play in 2025,” Fred Jones, founder and owner of the Southern Heritage Classic, told the Clarion Ledger. “I don’t know where these rumors come from, but it is not true.”
