Deion Sanders, Jackson State face lawsuit over contract dispute with Southern Heritage Classic
By Keith Farner
Published:
Deion Sanders and Jackson State are facing a lawsuit over a scheduling issue with the Southern Heritage Classic.
The Tigers’ plan that they intended to play in the 2022 version of the game against Tennessee State but then end the pact with 2 years remaining did not sit well with organizers of the classic. Reports from FootballScoop and HBCU Gameday detail how the organizers of the annual game in the Liberty Bowl, Summitt Management Corporation, filed suit in Memphis against JSU and the program’s host league, the Southwestern Athletic Conference, according to documents obtained by FootballScoop.
Sanders is named in the suit as it cites an Instagram post that alleges that the classic wasn’t profitable for JSU.
“SMC has paid JSU fees exceeding $6 million over the years, during many years when JSU was struggling financially. Over the years, TSU has won more games than JSU, but JSU has been better in recent years, and stronger financially. In 2021, JSU was nearly undefeated and won the SWAC championship.”
The suit also named the Defendant Board of Trustees of the “State Institutions of Higher Learning as the constitutional governing body of the Mississippi state institutions of higher learning, which includes defendant JSU.”
JSU is being sued for breach of contract.
SMC is seeking $1.8 million in damages for the 2023 and 2024 games from JSU after it announced that it would not participate in the game in 2023 and 2024. JSU entered into a contract with SMC in 2019 to play in the game for five seasons, through the 2024 season. SMC is seeking more than $5 million in damages per year from the SWAC which it claims interfered with the deal between JSU and SMC, according to documents obtained by Action News 5.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
