For the first three years of the rebooted Orange Blossom Classic (OBC), at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL, the Florida A&M (FAMU) Rattlers faced the Jackson State Tigers. From 2021-2023 the Rattlers and Tigers faced off to generous HBCU football crowds. Two marquee marching bands in FAMU’s Marching 100 and Jackson State’s Sonic Boom of the South also performed at the OBC.
FAMU bowed out of the HBCU Classic in 2024, citing a need for a fourth home game in Tallahassee. It was a surprising proposition for the Rattler faithful. It also put a spin on the Orange Blossom Classic that it had not experienced before…absence of FAMU.
In rainy weather, including a nearly two-hour lightning delay, the North Carolina Central Eagles defeated the Alabama State Hornets 31-24 in a wildly entertaining shootout. In the end, attendance was lower than in previous years.
The matter of the rapidly changing athletic directors at FAMU is partly to blame. Former FAMU Vice President and Director of Athletic Kortne Gosha negotiated for the Rattlers to face the University of Miami Hurricanes on Sept. 7 in Hard Rock Stadium, their home playing field. That contract is worth $700,000 to FAMU.
Gosha fully intended to play the 2024 OBC. He had intended to attempt to work with the university to have the football team stay in South Florida for the short Labor Day week and play the Hurricanes, making it a $1.2 million week.
Upon Gosha’s departure, the new Vice President and Director of Athletics Tiffani-Dawn Sykes was left with a dilemma. Three home games would not suffice for the ‘Investing in Champions donors’ in her opinion. She decided to withdraw from negotiations for a new contract with the OBC.
Reports are that the Orange Blossom Classic was offering FAMU in the neighborhood of $450,000 plus expenses to play in the 2024 game. With FAMU alumni heading several portions of the presenting staff of the OBC, it was a hard pill to swallow to not have the orange and green to represent in the game, but the Rattlers will return to Hard Rock Stadium a week after the OBC for 250,000 more dollars to play a tough Miami Hurricanes team.