Two HBCUs will now play at the Rose Bowl against the UCLA Bruins football team for the very first time.
Alabama State University has been scheduled for Sept. 10, 2022, and North Carolina Central University is scheduled for Sept. 16, 2023.
Also scheduled are performances by Alabama State’s Mighty Marching Hornets and NCCU’s Sound Machine Marching Band at the half-time shows for their respective Rose Bowl games.
UCLA Athletic Director Martin Jarmond said in a news release per The Grio, “Adding two HBCUs to our football schedule is special. It’s exciting to give our student-athletes and fans a new experience and to bring a little bit of the South to Southern California.”
The college football editor-in-chief for The Athletic Stewart Mandel said, the opportunity is significant for both sides. But that UCLA fans will get to enjoy some of the culture that HBCUs bring to the gaming experience.
“West Coast fans will get a taste of those schools’ traditions, most notably their famous bands. Credit to Jarmond for the initiative.”
Jarmond, who is Black, shared the signing of the agreement to play the games on Twitter, posting that it’s “always exciting to do something for the first time.”
