Hats off to the Cotton Bowl Foundation.

Wednesday morning, Michigan State released a statement saying that the Cotton Bowl Foundation announced a charitable gift challenge match to support MSU Athletics and the Mike Sadler Legacy Football Scholarship Endowment. Between Sept. 20 and the Spartans’ spring game in April 2018, the Cotton Bowl Foundation will match any gift to the endowment dollar-for-dollar up to $50,000.

That means the endowment could generate $100,000 with the challenge.

Both the Cotton Bowl and Michigan State offered official statements following the announcement.

Not only did Mike leave a lasting impact on the Spartan Nation, but he will long be remembered by the Cotton Bowl family. We want to honor Mike’s legacy and help assure that future generations will remember the indelible mark he made. We hope others will follow our lead to support this tremendous cause. — Rick Baker, Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic President/CEO, said

Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio expressed his appreciation for the Cotton Bowl’s generosity.

We are extremely grateful to the Cotton Bowl Foundation for their generous support of the Mike Sadler Legacy Football Scholarship. Mike’s final game as a Spartan was the memorable comeback win in the Cotton Bowl in 2015 and he was also named the Cotton Bowl Scholar-Athlete Award winner that year.  — Head coach Mark Dantonio

The Cotton Bowl was the final game of Sadler’s career with Michigan State.