The latest deal with PepsiCo continues the thread of major moves by the conference, and PepsiCo’s Thompson said the SWAC now warrants the same treatment his company uses in partnerships with the National Football League and National Basketball Association—full portfolio, leading with brands, working with players.

In McClelland’s view, it not only puts the SWAC on a similar sponsorship playing field as the larger college conferences, but offers players similar visibility while playing in a conference that has produced 22 NFL Hall of Famers.

“It gives them a much broader platform,” McClelland said. “More importantly, when they see the SWAC, it looks just like when they watch the SEC: We have the same platforms, we have the same partners, we have the same level of integration.

“So it gives you that feeling that, ‘Hey, I can go to a SWAC school, I can play on national television, I can go to a bowl game and play on ABC. … I can achieve all of those goals that I want to achieve.’”

The SWAC also has its rivalry game against the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and the Celebration Bowl between SWAC and MEAC champions broadcast on ESPN through 2026. The MEAC, and both of those events, are sponsored by Coca-Cola, which has also backed Grambling State University for more than 90 years, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) for upwards of 50 years, and the Bayou Classic game between Grambling and Southern University for more than a decade.

By establishing strong ties with the SWAC, PepsiCo is not only affirming its own commitment to HBCUs but creating a scenario in which two major industry rivals could do some collective good. While PepsiCo’s Montgomery said that if his company’s chief competitor wanted to support more HBCUs, work with students alongside PepsiCo and “find ways in which we can raise all boats, we support that.” But he made clear that PepsiCo considers the SWAC “the best and most premier conference” and looks forward to working with it long-term.

McClelland was less charitable. On his conference’s media day, he touted its institutions from Texas to Florida, its attendance that’s led the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) for 47 of the last 48 years (“It’ll be 48 in the last 49 years,” he promised), multiple law schools, multiple dental schools and a partner that it sees as every bit its equal. He eats their Nut Harvest cashews, he drinks “nothing but Gatorade,” and he has a warning for anyone who considers the MEAC or Coca-Cola his conference’s “rivals.”

“In my opinion, there is no rivalry. … There’s only one,” McClelland said. “The best is teamed up with the best to make the best student athletes and students in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. To me, there is no comparison, there is no competition, and it’s SWAC and PepsiCo.”