Dear Editor,
I think there is something that everyone reading this can agree on. Football will improve ETSU, no argument there.
The question is, will it be worth it to students to help pay for it. Look at it another way. Ask an Appalachian State or Marshall student if they would pay an extra $100 per year to keep their football team.
First of all, I can tell you the administrators wouldn’t even let that come to a vote, and if it did, it would be overwhelmingly positive. Football has changed those schools dramatically and they probably couldn’t imagine not having it.
Currently, Appalachian has a waiting list for freshman applications. All this happened after they won the national championship. Marshall plays and competes well with schools like UT, and they were in the same conference as ETSU just a few years ago.
Some students have asked how football will help them. Football is just one of the things that add diversity to a campus. The Reece Museum does the same, but they don’t usually feature the museum on national television on Saturdays with people gathered around to watch.
Football will also benefit numerous majors, including physical therapy, athletic training, sports management, music and the medical school.
Football will also improve ETSU’s reputation. When people see a high-caliber athletics program, they assume a high-caliber university is attached. Football will cost little to the students compared to the dramatic difference ETSU that could take place in five to 10 years.
Even if you don’t like football, it will change the involvement of many students on campus and improve everyone’s experience.
If you just came to go to class and go home, then you’re missing out on something and paying way too much as it is. There are a lot of four-year community colleges that are much cheaper.
– BJ Smith

Author