The biggest development in the sports world of the past decade may very well be the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a key law in May to open up sports betting far beyond the sands of Las Vegas. While progress has been slow on advancing the cause and only a handful of states are pursuing (or enacting) legislation to making such betting legal, the implications of being able to wager at your local casino is being felt from coast-to-coast.
Not surprisingly, it’s a big topic of conversation in Indianapolis at NCAA headquarters.
While the organization previously noted they will adjust certain policies as a result of the new landscape, USA Today has a report that says it seems the NCAA itself will not be seeking a cut of the action like the NBA and MLB are supposedly pursuing. At the same time however, it seems the folks back at HQ are allowing individual schools to pursue such an avenue if it makes sense in their own states.The NCAA’s leadership will not pursue so-called integrity fees for the association even though it recognizes that the anticipated spread of legalized sports betting will require it to spend money to monitor betting patterns for indicators of potential irregularities in college games, a top-ranking executive of the organization said Thursday.
Speaking to a group of college athletic business administrators at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics’ annual convention, NCAA senior vice president and chief financial officer Kathleen McNeely said that if sports gambling continues to operate under regulation on a state-by-state basis, it will be up to individual schools to decide whether they want to pursue this type of money. (The NCAA and the NFL are advocating for federal regulation of sports betting.)
While the addition of a new revenue stream from sports betting is no doubt one of the driving forces for schools, costs going up is another more immediate and pressing need. West Virginia’s athletic director already confirmed that he is beefing up the school’s compliance office to deal with sports betting and he will be far from the only one to do so.
Something says we’re far from finished on this subject when it comes to the NCAA and legalized sports betting but at least they’re not shutting things down completely for schools to forge ahead in the same area.