Fans in the Temple student section throw streamers after the first made basket, as per Big 5 tradition, during the inaugural Big 5 Classic at the Wells Fargo Center on December 2, 2023. (Photo: Wells Fargo Center)
By AARON BRACY
September 23, 2024
The Big 5 Classic got another boost with Monday’s announcement that the Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association is the title sponsor in a three-year deal that follows the news in June that the event will remain at the Wells Fargo Center at least through 2026. The WFC hosted the first-ever one-day, winner-take-all Big 5 tripleheader last season.
Now known as the Toyota Big 5 Classic, the second annual men’s event will be held on Saturday, December 7, 2024, with a tripleheader featuring all six Big 5 teams – Drexel, La Salle, Penn, Saint Joseph’s, Temple and Villanova. Toyota also signed on as the sponsor for the first-ever women’s event, to be held on Friday, December 6, 2024, at Villanova. Officials also announced that tickets for the event are now on sale HERE.
In light of Monday’s announcement, Big5Hoops.com kicked off a five-part series on Monday on the Big 5 that features the following:
–Monday: A look back at the inaugural Big 5 Classic last season
–Today: Toyota’s Paul Muller on why the event is a good fit
–Wednesday: Wells Fargo Center’s Mike Sulkes on expectations for this year’s event
–Thursday: A close look at the matchups this year
–Friday: Big 5 mailbag
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While in high school, Paul Muller attended Saturday night Big 5 doubleheaders at the Palestra, making the short trek from his Bucks County home. Like most everyone in and around Philadelphia who liked sports, Muller was enamored with what he saw on the court and in the stands.
“It’s competitive, but there’s also a camaraderie,” Muller told Big5Hoops late last week. “The game is over and guys are shaking hands and hugging. A lot of those kids came from Philadelphia high schools. Some of these kids played against each other from grade school on. It’s a unique Philadelphia tradition that you don’t see in a lot of other markets. These schools are all trying to win this, win that and get in the NCAAs, but this is something that they see as will boost all of their programs.”
“We saw the excitement and the promise of this thing from when they first started talking about it, and we obviously wanted to be a part of it.” – Paul Muller (pictured), the president of the Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association
The Big 5 has changed since Muller, now 75 years old and the president of the Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association, was a teen. By 2022, the buzz and interest in the Big 5 was whittling. Once the hottest ticket in town for those Saturday night showdowns featuring the best players from Philadelphia’s Catholic League and Public League, which Muller had witnessed, an announced crowd of only 3,246 watched Saint Joseph’s top Penn 85-80 in the nightcap after Temple downed La Salle 67-51 in the opener of a traditional Big 5 doubleheader at the Palestra on November 30, 2022.
Everyone associated with the Big 5 knew changes needed to be made if the historic collection of five Philadelphia Division I schools, formed by the athletic directors of Penn, La Salle, Saint Joseph’s, Temple and Villanova on November 23, 1954, was going to stay afloat. And, change, it did. The AD’s added Drexel to the mix and partnered with the Wells Fargo Center for a one-day, tripleheader last December 2nd that culminated with the top team of each three-team pod meeting in a winner-take-all championship game for the first time in Big 5 history.
The games delivered in a big way. The Big 5 got a boost in June when the Wells Fargo Center extended its agreement to host the Big 5 Classic at least through 2026. And, on Monday, the event got another lift when Muller’s organization was announced as the title sponsor in the newly named Toyota Big 5 Classic.
Just two years ago, the Big 5 was on life support. Now, it has two major Philadelphia corporations, Comcast and Toyota, on board with great interest in seeing it succeed.
“We saw the excitement and the promise of this thing from when they first started talking about it, and we obviously wanted to be a part of it,” Muller said. “We see it as such a unique Philadelphia tradition that we think that with the things that we can do in and around it that we can elevate it and make it really special. We want to make it a can’t-miss sports tradition in Philadelphia. We feel so strongly about it that we committed to three years.”
The Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association, which Muller has served as president for the last 31 years and is comprised of dealerships in Northern Delaware, Southern Lehigh Valley, Southern New Jersey, Philadelphia and the five surrounding Philadelphia counties, already has a huge presence in Philadelphia sports as a sponsor of the 76ers, Phillies, Flyers, Eagles and Penn Relays. The company also is heavily involved with Philabundance, which annually delivers hundreds of thousands of meals and millions of pounds of food to those in need in the Philadelphia area. Partnering with the Big 5 is a natural extension of Toyota’s sports brand and also gives the company a footprint into a key, target market of college students and recent graduates.
“We just thought it was a really exciting expansion to our sports portfolio,” Muller said. “And we’re hitting a younger demographic with all of the student fans and young alumni, and that’s an enticing opportunity for us to make connection points with these prospective customers. Toyota has been around a long time. It’s well, well-known for its QDR – quality, reliability and dependability – and the last five or six years we’ve become known for our style. We just want to make sure that young people whose parents made them buy a Toyota because it will last forever if you took care of it know that not only is it a great, well-built car but it’s a cool-looking car.
“When we looked at all of those different things, it made perfect sense. We really wanted to be a part of it.”
Obviously, Muller’s organization hopes that in helping the Big 5 they will be driving profit to Toyota. But it’s more than just money. Contributing positively to the community, whether through the Big 5 or other outreaches, is more than just good business.
“We try to maintain a great relationship with all of these folks in the market, but we also try to do things in the market that help the community,” Muller said. “This community is where I live, where I raised my family, where my grandchildren are, our businesses are here. These people we’re helping are our employees, and they’re our customers. It’s sort of incumbent on us to try to do right by the market where we live and raise our families. So, if we can make a few bucks and sell a few cars and do good things at the same time, that’s all the better.”
Muller said Toyota will help grow the event in several ways, including with buildup to the event and on the day of the tripleheader, where you can expect a large Toyota presence parked at the Wells Fargo Center. And, like when he was in high school, Muller will be right there in the stands cheering on the Big 5 games.
“I just want everybody to have a good time,” he said. “I just think this is going to be exciting for Philadelphia. And I think it’s going to be special for Toyota.”
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-Coming tomorrow: Part 3 of our weeklong series features an interview with Wells Fargo Center general manager Mike Sulkes, who discusses expectations for this year’s Toyota Big 5 Classic.
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. His byline regularly appears on Associated Press stories. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages. His book on the 2003-04 Saint Joseph’s men’s basketball team is expected to be published on March 1, 2025. Read a summary and preorder it by clicking HERE. Contact him at aaron@big5hoops.com.