Usually the Chicago Classic and the Circle City Classic are two weeks apart but this year they're on the same day for the first time in history. The Circle City Classic was once the largest HBCU Classic in the Midwest until 2014 where promoters signed a four year contract to have D2 Kentucky State and Central State playing in the ball game instead of the usual FCS HBCUs. Attendance dropped from 50,000 down to 31,000 during that time. Now this year the Circle City Classic will feature Howard and Bethune-Cookman in a MEAC conference matchup and early ticket sales are significantly up from the previous 4 seasons.


The Chicago Classic tried to get a premier HBCU match up with FCS schools but was unable to so their matchup will feature two D2 HBCUs from the SIAC Conference Miles College and Morehouse. Miles and Morehouse are two of the attendance leaders in D2 football so the promoters at the Chicago Classic hope that the attendance doesn't take a drop without the larger FCS HBCUs involved.