Major League Polo Creates HBCU “Black Ivy League” Collegiate Polo Program

Major League Polo (“MLP”), the official major league sport for Polo throughout 6 continents, has announced its goal of creating an official HBCU “Black Ivy League” collegiate Polo program at the 102 HBCU schools to mirror the 42 collegiate polo programs currently in place at traditionally non-Black university systems. MLP, through its newly created HBCU Collegiate Partnership Program (“HBCU CPP”), will implement a Division I and Division II collegiate bracketed system for these student-athlete Polo teams to compete against other universities in a broadcast event series and receive related revenue streams.

The HBCU Collegiate Partnership Program will seek to award a total of 612 initial scholarships to student prospects to form women’s and men’s collegiate Polo teams at each HBCU school, assist in financial aid for construction of arena facilities with stables, provide horses, gear and grooming, veterinary assistance, athletic directors, Polo coaches and instruction, as well as provide each scholarship student with full tuition, books, meals, and on-campus housing, if applicable. Universities that have suburban site areas for Polo facilities may have them built on-campus and those that are more centrally located on urban campuses will have a playing field allocated nearby at an adjacent Major League Polo stadium venue for their usage, training and convenience.

HBCU Heroes, a nonprofit founded by Tracey Pennywell (CEO) and George Lynch (former NBA star with Sixer, Lakers, etc.) will help oversee the vetting process for the 612 scholarships at the 102 HBCU schools. “We’re honored to team up with the MLP to provide access and opportunity to this lucrative field which is a virtually untapped sport for the HBCU community, said Pennywell. “We can’t wait to find the next Doug Williams, Edwin Moses or Wilma Rudolph—but in Polo. This is history in the making. The time has come.”

Student-athlete prospects will not have typical NIL, sponsorship or publicity restrictions. Coaches, local community members and media may participate during the recruiting process of prospects in the Fall 2022 season. HBCU Polo players will have a chance to showcase their talents and make it to the highest level of Polo in the MLP SuperDraft through the bracketed Division I and II player development process. MLP is committed to seeing that HBCU collegiate Polo players make the most of these NIL opportunities which can extend beyond the game broadcast. Currently, only one HBCU college in America has access to Polo, Morehouse College in Atlanta. MLP, headquartered in Atlanta, plans to raise HBCU CPP funds via a special sports-series NFT auction similar to its current NFL Alumni deal with SportVEST Holdings, also expected to generate almost $200 million.

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Major League Polo ("MLP") is a U.S. pro sports league based in Atlanta, GA fielding 16 U.S. city-based coed teams in its American and National Polo Conference brackets. There are 96 Matches, 2 Semi-Finals and 1 Final event hosted in the U.S., the MLP World Series of Polo - World Cup Event.

This release was published on openPR.