Unlike bowl games, classics take place during college football's regular season; they differ from standard regular season games in that they are often accompanied by entertaining battle of the bands, parades, tailgate parties, social events, concerts, job fairs, and are often played at touristic neutral sites.
Football classics annually attract large crowds of alumni, fans, and spectators in general, along with high media interest and corporate sponsorships.
[4] Though Grambling State's Eddie Robinson did not invent classic games, he is widely regarded as having perfected them as revenue-generating social events, and a chapter of his autobiography details his efforts at doing so.
[14] A Louisiana-based Turkey Day Classic between Dillard and Xavier played for "the 'Bone of Contention'—literally, the hind-femur of a bull, mounted on a plaque" during the 1940s and 1950s.
As participants of the Great Migration have begun to age, it remains to be seen if their descendants (and others from completely different demographic groups) can sustain games that focus on teams from regions of the country that they are less familiar with.
In addition, the schools themselves have also been forced to weigh the benefits of maintaining their historical ties with classics or to accept the changes of modern game scheduling.
Because of the commitments of some universities—especially Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) schools—to season-finale classic games, they may forgo the opportunity to participate in the FCS playoffs.