Maryland is offering $10,000 to one lucky student if the football team returns a punt for a touchdown against Towson. But football players still can’t get paid.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before but college football players don’t get paid to play the game that will damage their bodies and brains beyond repair. The conversation about paying college football players has always been there, and while it’s come to the forefront in recent years, and perhaps a change will be made in the coming years, there remains a long way to go to bridge the divide.
The latest example of this comes from Maryland where the Terrapins are offering one lucky student $10,000 if the team returns a punt for a touchdown against Towson on Saturday, in the second half. At first glance, this is a nice offer by the university to make one lucky student face less of a burden for the cost of attendance and the cost of living.
BREAKING:
— Maryland Terrapins (@umterps) September 8, 2017
If the Terps return a punt for a TD in tomorrow's second half, one Maryland Student will WIN $10K.
*Must be present to win pic.twitter.com/lQ4iEKRhAZ
But a closer look and it’s easy to tell this is nothing more than a cheap plot to get butts in the stands for the game against an FCS opponent. If Maryland returns a punt for a touchdown in the first half, there is nothing to give, that’s because they need the butts in the stands for the second half, when it’s anticipated thousands of people will flood to the exits to beat the heat, take a nap in the dorms and get ready to party all night long. Attendance figures are always dramatically lower for FCS opponents and despite Maryland’s impressive Week 1 win against Texas, they still need to try gimmicks like this to infuse some excitement into the program.
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I don’t fault Maryland for trying to do that. In fact, it really should be commended, but it’s just shining a light on the glaring issue that someone else will benefit financially from the exploits of the football team while the football team receives their scholarship check. Still pretty nice, but not as nice as one lucky student getting $10,000 for sitting in the stands for four hours on a Saturday afternoon.
Having said that, I hope Maryland returns a punt in the second half and some lucky student can get some financial relief and cash a large check. Maybe he or she can take the punt team out for lunch with the winnings?
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