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July 15, 2015
HOOVER, ALABAMA
KEVIN TRAINOR: This morning we'll begin, we're joined now by the Chief Operating Officer of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame, Mr. Matthew Sign.
MATTHEW SIGN: Good morning. Good to be back. On behalf of our Chairman, Archie Manning, our President and CEO, Steve Hatchell, our Board of Directors and the over 12,000 members of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, it's once again an honor and privilege to be here with you this morning. Let me start by thanking Commissioner Greg Sankey, Mark Womack, Herb Vincent, and the entire SEC staff for once again providing us this wonderful opportunity. The SEC has been a staunch supporter of the National Football Foundation and its programs and initiatives for many years, and we are very grateful for that. So thank you, SEC. I'm here today to talk about football and its ability to build leaders and promote academic excellence. We believe at the National Football Foundation that football is the ultimate team sport, which makes it ideally positioned to teach the lifelong lessons that will benefit student-athletes long after their playing days. Since our founding in 1947, there's been no organization that has honored or celebrated college football better than the National Football Foundation. As we enter our 69th year promoting college football, we boast an impressive list of early leaders that include the legendary Grantland Rice, Hall of Fame coach Earl "Red" Blaik, and General Douglas MacArthur. Our current board includes three conference commissioners, four athletics directors, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, and Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Archie Griffin. They form a core leadership that's passionate, and they support our efforts of our membership in the 120 chapters across the country. I want to give some quick facts that highlight the reach of our sport, which has never been better. The entire college community continues to make enormous strides in protecting the future of the game and making it safer than it's ever been before. Here are a few quick facts. Keep in mind that 1.1 million high school football players play at the more than 15,000 high schools across the country. There are over 70,000 college football players at 773 institutions that have college football. That's everywhere from Division I down to the NAIA. There are 38 colleges and universities that have added football since 2010 and another 10 are slated to add programs the next few years. It has become like clockwork every year that the schools announce an addition of a college football program because they know the value it provides in creating a sense of community on campus as well as attracting an enormous number of students and, of course, student-athletes. As a reminder, the popularity of the sport has never been greater. 33.3 million watched the National Championship Game. 49 million people attended a regular season college football game. Another 1.7 million attended Bowl games. The SEC set an all time record in 2014 across all conferences with over 7.7 million attending a game. Kudos to the SEC. With all these impressive facts, it's also important to note, as we look at the popularity of the game and all the young men playing it, that at the end of the day, there's only going to be 0.5 percent of college football players that are going to make an NFL roster. That's as of 2014. And the average NFL career only lasts 3.3 years. That's why we always want to highlight the graduation rate of FBS football players, and that is 75 percent, as compared to 59 percent of the general student body. Football clearly provides an edge, and that's why the National Football Foundation works hard to promote the game at every level. Most importantly, protecting the opportunity, the opportunity for a young man to go to college and earn a college degree and become a better citizen. Last year we launched footballmatters.org, which is our digital platform for telling all the great stories of the game. It has quickly become a force for highlighting the countless stories about the good in the game. So if you're ever in need of a story idea to cover, I would encourage you to visit the site or sign up for email alerts. Again, that's footballmatters.org. I'm sure it will spark your imagination for great stories to cover. On September 24th, we'll announce a semifinalist for the William V. Campbell trophy, presented by Fidelity Investments. These candidates represent the best football scholar-athletes from their respective schools both on and off the field. As a reminder, they must carry a 3.2 cumulative GPA, be in their last year of eligibility, and be a starter. We are charged by the college community with telling these stories as inspiration to future generations. Past winners of the Campbell trophy from the SEC include Brad Culpepper, Danny Wuerffel and Tim Tebow from Florida, Peyton Manning and Michael Munoz from Tennessee, Matt Stinchcomb from Georgia, Rudy Niswanger from LSU, and Barrett Jones from Alabama. We'll announce the finalist on October 29th, and each of the finalists receive an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship. At the National Football Foundation's annual awards dinner on December 8th at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, one will be named the winner of the William V. Campbell trophy as the top scholar-athlete in the country, and his post-graduate scholarship will increase to $25,000. Of course, at the event on December the 8th, we'll formerly induct the 2015 College Hall of Fame class, which includes Wes Chandler from Florida and Art Still from Kentucky. During the dinner, we'll also present the longtime voice of the LSU Tigers, Jim Hawthorne, with the prestigious NFF Chris Schenkel award for excellence in broadcasting. And as we announced yesterday, we'll honor former SEC commissioner and NFF board member Mike Slive with an NFF Legacy Award for his contributions to the National Football Foundation and the betterment of college football. Following the dinner in New York City, the 2015 Hall of Fame class will travel to Atlanta for the 11th Annual National Hall of Fame Salute, which also takes place at the new College Football Hall of Fame, steps from the Georgia Dome. If you have not visited the new Hall of Fame, we welcome all members of the media to take a tour at your earliest convenience. It is truly a mecca for all of college football and is a one of the kind, state of the art, interactive, must have experience for all college football fans. For those of you who have trouble with technology, I encourage you to bring a teenager with you to get you through it. The 2015 inductees will participate in a full slate of events around the Peach Bowl to culminate on December 31st, where they'll be honored during the game at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. We're grateful to be in Atlanta with the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl folks and look forward to a long-term partnership with them. For those of you who are in Dallas with the first College Football Playoff, you know that we have partnered with the CFP for a couple of new special traditions on the football calendar in Arizona. On Friday, January 8th, we'll announce the 2016 Hall of Fame class of the official media hotel. Several of the new inductees will be on hand. They will also stick around and take the field during the coin toss of the National Championship Game. Also at the game, the Campbell trophy winner will be honored on the field. We once again thank Bill Hancock and his staff for providing the National Football Foundation with this wonderful opportunity. All these dates and information can be found on our website and our weekly email blast that report on the latest news in college football, which you can sign up to receive at footballfoundation.org. In closing, I want to once again thank the Southeastern Conference, the SEC staff, and all the individual institutions and their staffs for their support. I also want to thank all the members of the Football Writers Association of America for their continued support and coverage. The FWAA does a marvelous job in ensuring coverage of the game, and I encourage all members of the media in attendance today to make sure you join and become members. Finally, we would like to share a video with you that is part of our Football Matters campaign. Once again, thank you for your time and thank you for helping us build leaders through football.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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