Major Moves: Bulluck-Major is driving force behind OBC

Kendra Bulluck-Major

Orange Blossom Classic Executive Director Kendra Bulluck-Major is changing the narrative for women in sports. Bulluck-Major is the one and only woman to own the exclusive rights to a NCAA Division 1 sports property –neutral site game, bowl game or Classic.
 
Bulluck-Major obtained the rights to the Orange Blossom Classic in 2018.  Her journey to revive  the storied classic didn’t happen overnight it began in 2009. 

“I started researching, finding mentors, and learning more about the original Orange Blossom Classic, and its history. I talked to individuals who had done something similar,” Bulluck-Major said.

“My mentors told me ‘Hey, this is where you start, what you should do’. A lot of it came from my having a strong background in business. Knowing the business landscape, and what you need in order to be successful definitely helped. Everything began there.”

Among Bulluck-Major’s mentors is Keith Tribble, the former UCF athletic director credited with securing a $15M deal for the construction and operation of both the 45,000 seat now FBC Mortgage Stadium and the 10,000 seat UCF Arena.  Tribble also spent 13 years as the CEO of the Orange Bowl Football game, one of the granddaddy’s of NCAA post-season bowl games.

“I can’t overstate the value of research, Bullock Major said. “I studied which teams would help us gain attendance. I studied the conferences. I asked questions about which teams generate 15,000 to 20,000 in-person fans and what Miami’s visitors and tourism bureaus wanted to see (in order to gain their support).”
 
With COVID-19 stalling life as we all knew it, the plan shifted from a 2020 return to one in 2021.
 
In 2021, we saw the first iteration of the long-time classic create magic under her watch. With her direction, the event was featured during the past two NCAA football seasons on ESPN2. That included an online stream of the halftime show.

Last year the viewership exceeded one million viewers which provided wonderful exposure for the student-athletes and institutions that participated. It was also the second-highest-rated HBCU game on the platform.  This year’s game will be featured on ESPN with hopes to exceed last year’s viewership.

The future of the game
Given that FAMU’s participation in the OBC after this year is questionable, what does the game look like going forward? 

“Well, the original Orange Blossom Classic featured Florida A&M as the staple,” she said. “Every year FAMU would play another team, and whoever won that particular game was seen as the champion. Over these last three years, similarly, we have been able to duplicate that,” Bullock -Major said.

“The beautiful thing about this being a new classic is you have those rivalries like The Bayou Classic featuring Grambling and Southern and the Florida Classic featuring Florida A&M and Bethune Cookman. We have an opportunity to reimagine what that looks like, meaning we don’t necessarily have to stick to a particular rivalry. ”  

Bullock-Major continued, “(We would love to have FAMU back) but if that doesn’t happen we get the opportunity to bring in other institutions, so for now, it looks like what the original Orange Blossom Classic looks like which was FAMU versus another opponent.

“We can, maybe, (in the future) feature the SWAC versus a MEAC team. With our ability to provide payouts to the schools that participate, it gives us the opportunity to assist as many HBCUs as possible.”

This year, however, for the third (and perhaps final) time since the Classics' revival FAMU will take on the Tigers of Jackson State, Sunday at 3pm in Hard Rock Stadium for the 2023 Orange Blossom Classic.