For every Utah win this year, Jazz owner Ryan Smith said they will offer a four-year college scholarship to an underrepresented student.h
Jazz owner Ryan Smith told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski that the team will offer a four-year college scholarship to an "underrepresented or minority" student for every Utah win this year.
The new owner appeared on The Woj Pod to share that the new governing group is using their platform to "drive proper changes that, frankly, should have been done a long time ago."
This program appears to be the first of its kind by an NBA team awarding scholarships based on their nightly performance.
“It’s not only to give folks money who wouldn’t have had a chance,” Smith said. “A lot of people don’t know how to get the process going of getting into college.”
Smith told Wojnarowski that they plan to speak with different universities about multiple scholarship opportunities for prospective students who might not have had the ability to attend or afford school otherwise.
“We will go to universities and say, ‘Hey, we want five or six scholarships, guaranteed, we’re going to bring kids who have never had a chance to do this into your university'”, Smith said. “And we’re going to help cover the cost, will you accept them?”
The Jazz had a perfect 3-0 record in the preseason and have added four more wins in their first seven regular season games. Seven academic scholarships could be available at the moment, according to Smith.