By Legacy Editorial Staff
The 2026 Denny’s Orange Blossom Classic brought South Carolina State and Florida A&M together last Sunday before 23,188 fans at Hard Rock Stadium, continuing one of the nation’s most prominent HBCU football traditions.
While South Carolina State’s victory provided the game’s immediate result, the significance of the Classic extended well beyond the field. The annual event serves as a gathering point for historically Black colleges and universities, alumni, students, businesses and supporters from across South Florida and beyond.
For Kendra Bulluck-Major, executive director of the Orange Blossom Classic, that broader mission is central to understanding why the event matters.
“The Orange Blossom Classic is more than a game. It is an experience rooted in legacy, opportunity, and impact,” Bulluck-Major said before this year’s Classic. “From supporting local businesses to creating scholarship opportunities for students, we are proud of the impact we’ve made, and we’re not done.”
Organizers said the Orange Blossom Classic has generated more than $600,000 in scholarships for students in need and produced an estimated economic impact of more than $100 million for Miami-Dade County and the broader South Florida region.
Organizers said the estimate includes visitor spending on hotels, restaurants, transportation, retail and other local businesses.
Bulluck-Major has said the Classic should be viewed not simply as an annual football game, but as an investment in the community.
“We think of it as just purchasing a ticket, but I look at each one of our ticket purchasers as donors,” she said in an interview with WPLG Local 10. “You purchase a ticket to this event … you are a donor. You are helping to support a cause that helps give back to our community.”
The Classic’s continued growth comes as HBCU athletic programs and community organizations face a challenging sponsorship environment. Corporate sponsorships have become more difficult to secure, increasing the importance of local businesses and regional partners willing to invest in events that combine sports, education and economic development.
Able Business Services, a Black-owned company based in Miami, served as the presenting sponsor.
The company’s participation reflected the continuing role of local businesses in supporting major community events tied to HBCU athletics, scholarships and regional economic development.
The sponsorship also underscored the connection between the Orange Blossom Classic and the broader South Florida business community. Beyond football, the event provides companies with a platform to reach residents, visitors, alumni and HBCU supporters while contributing to programs intended to benefit students.
The scholarship funding remains one of the Classic’s central community commitments. Organizers said proceeds have helped provide financial assistance to students in need, extending the event’s impact beyond the stadium and the outcome on the field.
For Bulluck-Major, that impact is also personal. She spent more than a decade working to revive an event she had heard about from her father, who remembered the original Orange Blossom Classic and its importance to the community.
“I wanted the same opportunity for our students here down in South Florida,” Bulluck-Major said in a recent interview about her decision to bring the Classic back.
The original Orange Blossom Classic began in 1933, when Black college football programs competed in a segregated America that often denied their athletes access to the country’s largest stages. The revived Classic returned in 2021, carrying that history into a new generation.
Bulluck-Major said she now hears from people who remember the original Classic as well as younger fans experiencing it for the first time.
“I have people who remember the original Classic from 1933 to ’78 and they say, I’m so glad you brought it back because it meant so much to our community,” she said.
That connection between generations may be among the Classic’s most significant accomplishments.
The event is simultaneously a football game, cultural celebration, economic generator and educational platform. It brings HBCU traditions into one of South Florida’s largest sports venues while directing attention and resources toward students and institutions that have historically played an outsized role in educating Black professionals and leaders.
Bulluck-Major has described the experience simply: “It is entertainment, sports, culture, music, everything just all wrapped up into one.”
The 23,188 fans at Hard Rock Stadium showed the Classic’s reach, but its lasting impact extends beyond attendance. More than $600,000 in scholarships has helped students, while local businesses and South Florida’s economy have benefited from the event.
Together, those contributions keep the Orange Blossom Classic rooted in its original purpose: creating opportunity, celebrating HBCU excellence and connecting generations.
The game is more than a tradition remembered. With every ticket, scholarship and shared experience, it is a tradition carried forward.
