According to a variety of reports, the NCAA is trying to distance itself from daily fantasy sports, bucking the trend by professional leagues which have embraced it.
NCAA official Oliver Luck last week issued a warning to athletic directors that any player who participates in DFS games will lose a year of athletic eligibility, according to igamingbusiness.com.
Also, according to the International Business Times, administrators from several NCAA conferences sent letters to DFS providers FanDuel and DraftKings demanding that they stop offering college football contests. The administrators said they are trying to protect the integrity of their games in line with the NCAA’s stance against sports betting.
Both sites have reportedly begun offering fantasy pools on NCAA football games, where they can select amateur players for their teams and compete with others to win real-money prizes.
Meanwhile, ESPN has reportedly discontinued its controversial “cover alerts” for NCAA games. The alerts told viewers of scores that affect the betting line of NCAA games. The move comes after several NCAA officials expressed concerns about the reports.
Also, SEC TV—which broadcasts the NCAA’s Southeastern Conference and is owned by ESPN—has decided to stop accepting advertising from FanDuel and DraftKings. League officials said the conference supports the NCAA’s position on daily fantasy sports and decided to stop advertising for the sites.
The moves signify a change in the NCAA’s stance on fantasy sports. The association formerly supported exemptions for fantasy sports from sports betting bans, but that was before the rise of daily fantasy sports, which greatly changed the nature and the amount of money being bet on fantasy sports.
“Fantasy sports leagues threaten both the integrity of the game and the well-being of student-athletes,” Mark Strothkamp, NCAA associate director of enforcement, told ESPN.com. “NCAA member schools have defined sports wagering as putting something at risk—such as an entry fee—with the opportunity to win something in return, which includes fantasy league games. Because of this, student-athletes, coaches, administrators and national office staff may not participate in a fantasy league game with a paid entry fee.”
