Gifts adding to bowl game experience for UVA players

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - As if playing a game in a different city and spending time with your team isn’t fun already, there’s some incentives that sweeten the deal for players when playing in bowl games.

“The coolest one so far, I think, in the Orange Bowl I got a Nintendo Switch, and I use that all the time,” UVA linebacker Noah Taylor said.

Players and staff get bowl gifts provided by sponsors of each bowl game.

“The bowl always has something that’s close to them, so at the Belk Bowl we got a watch. Orange Bowl we’ll get video games, or something like that,” Taylor said. Bowl gifts are great.”

This year, when the Cavaliers get to Boston they’ll be gifted Bose Sport wireless earbuds, LL Bean dopp kit with the Wasabi Fenway Bowl logo on it, as well as a personalized mini baseball with the players name and jersey number. But that’s not all, players will be able to shop through a gift suite with items shipped directly to them.

“They’ll give us like eight credits and there’s sections, like, ‘this section is two credits. You can spend your two credits here on whatever the lower tier gifts are, or you can spend all your eight credits on one thing,’ which is what I did with the Nintendo Switch,” Taylor said.

Players also get more clothing and swag to wear on their trip.

But at the end of the day, the gifts don’t beat the extra time spent with team.

“It’s a great experience just to be able to get stuff along with be able to play in another game,” Taylor said. “Stay here, practice, and become better football players and having fun while doing it.”

Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.