Pro sports leagues quickly reversed course and aligned themselves with sportsbooks after the Supreme Court struck down the ban on sports betting in 2018. Colleges have been much slower to accept the new realities and for some conferences, ambiguity is the order of the day. The NCAA has not helped clarify the situation.
With that in mind, the Mid-American Conference has asked the NCAA for clarity on sports betting restrictions. There is no set timetable for a formal response, or an announcement, should the rules need tweaking, according to Sportico.
The conference focused on Section 10.3 of the NCAA’s Division I manual, which prohibits athletes, staff members, conference employees and university leaders from gambling on sports. The section also bars providing information to anyone associated with sports betting, which could prevent conferences from signing data distribution deals.
Those deals have become a cornerstone for producing income streams for pro leagues. In March, MAC signed a data and sponsorship agreement with Genius Sports. Depending on the ruling from the NCAA, that could mean another revenue stream vis the sale of data to sportsbooks in the future.
The NCAA receives hundreds of interpretation requests each year from conferences and schools—anything from individual athlete eligibility to larger division-wide bylaws. Most are filed through an online database, at which point the NCAA decides which staffers or committee can best review the request. Some are returned fairly quickly; others can take months.
Should the NCAA allow members to sell data, look for major moneymaking deals with conferences like the Big Ten and SEC.
There is no official sports betting partner of the NCAA, and its current data deal with Genius Sports only covers media.
More recently, Colorado, LSU and Maryland have begun inked partnerships with sportsbooks. Colorado’s deal, with PointsBet, pays the Buffaloes at least $1.625 million over the five-year term, plus a $30 referral fee for every new customer the school directs to PointsBet, according to the contract.
