Honda Battle of the Bands facts for kids
The Honda Battle of the Bands (also called The Honda or HBOB) is a big yearly event in the United States. It shows off amazing performances by marching bands from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). These are special colleges that were first created to educate Black students. The event is sponsored by the American Honda Motor Company. The main show, called the Invitational Showcase, happens in late January in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
Before the main event, there's the Honda Battle of the Bands Celebration Tour. This tour takes place from September to November at regular football games. Even though it's called a "battle," it's not a competition where one band wins. Instead, the bands perform for the audience, for each other, and for the whole community. It's about celebrating their talent! This event is super popular. Over 50,000 fans come to watch every year.
How Bands Get Chosen
The Honda Battle of the Bands program has two main parts. First, there's a voting process from September to October. Then, there's the "Honda Battle of the Bands Invitational Showcase" itself.
The Voting Process
Bands are chosen through a special voting system:
- The band with the most votes overall gets the first spot.
- The next three bands are chosen based on their size. There are three size groups:
- Category I: 128 instruments or less.
- Category II: 129 to 160 instruments.
- Category III: 161 instruments or more.
- For these three spots, votes from three groups are counted equally:
- Online Opinion Polls: People vote on the hondabattleofthebands.com website.
- Band Directors' Votes: The directors of the bands vote.
- Presidents' Votes: The presidents of the colleges vote.
- Important: Presidents and band directors cannot vote for their own schools.
Final Selection
After the votes, the American Honda and Urban Sports & Entertainment Group pick the last four bands. They look at things like:
- Showmanship: How exciting and entertaining their performances are.
- Social Media Buzz: How much people are talking about them online.
- Past Participation: How many times they have been part of the Celebration Tour before.
In the end, 8 bands are invited to perform their amazing halftime routines. They get to show off their skills to over 50,000 fans!
Event History
The Honda Battle of the Bands started in 2003. It was created to celebrate and support the amazing Black college marching bands. It also highlights the special learning experience offered by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Honda gives more than $205,000 in grants to the bands that take part each year. They also host a job fair for HBCU students before the band showcase.
In 2018, Honda announced that the event would take a break in 2019. This was because Super Bowl LIII was held in Atlanta that year. The event came back in 2020.
In 2020, Honda announced another break for 2021. This was due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fun Facts
- The movie Drumline (from 2002) features a fictional event called the "BET Big Southern Classic." This event was similar to the HBOB. The main difference is that the movie's event was a competition with a winner. The HBOB is usually just a showcase, with no official winner.
- In 2014, the HBOB did declare an official winner for the first time ever. It was the marching band from North Carolina A&T. This has only happened once in the event's history.
- Bethune-Cookman University's marching band has been invited to the HBOB 13 times as of 2020. This is more than any other band!
