NCAA Preparing For Sports Betting Impact On Young Players

The top sporting leagues in the country such as the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL opposed the legalization of sports betting for a number of years because they were concerned that the sports betting market would negatively impact and influence their games and players.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) also supported the big sporting leagues as the NCAA did not want young players to deal with outside influences surrounding sports betting and instead concentrate solely on improving their game.

The Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) in May and gave each state the power to regulate sports betting.

So far Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey have regulated betting and as many as 14 states have introduced sports betting bills and are in the processing of passing new regulations that will legalize sports betting in their respective states.

The NCAA is now forced to deal with the fact that sports betting on NCAA games will soon be available across multiple states. The Big Ten coaches of the NCAA met this week in Chicago to discuss the impact of sports betting on their league and the steps they need to take in order to protect their players from any negative impact.

NCAA Will Focus On Educating Players

There are always concerns regarding match fixing and the NCAA knows that there is a definite possibility that their young players could be approached to throw games, under perform or not make themselves available. That could be devastating to the NCAA as well as a player’s career and the NCAA wants to address this by educating their players.

In a statement, Pat Fitzgerald from Northwestern said

I think it’s, first and foremost, important that we educate our guys and the understanding of the issues that surround gambling and understand from a standpoint of what may end up happening to them in dorms, people asking them questions that maybe they’ve never been asked before – these new instant friends that they have as true freshmen, things of that nature

Big Ten Commissioner Wants More Protection

Jim Delany who is the Big Ten Commissioner says it is best for a federal framework to be put in place to remove college sports from sports betting. If this is not possible, then the second option is to get more regulations for school and college sports to have added protection from sports betting.