NCAA left to ponder next move
ALREADY dealing with the debate over the merits of amateurism and the FBI’s ongoing probe of corruption in college basketball recruiting, the NCAA’s legal department now must negotiate its way through the legalization of sports gambling.
“While we are still reviewing the decision to understand the overall implications to college sports, we will adjust sports wagering and championship policies to align with the direction from the court,” Donald Remy, the NCAA’s chief legal officer, said in a statement Monday morning.
The case — Murphy v. The National Collegiate Athletic Association — concluded with the United States Supreme Court issuing a decision that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) is unconstitutional. The law largely banned sports betting outside Nevada, and the NCAA has been resolute in its opposition to sports wagering as the landscape evolved in recent years.
States are readying to pass legislation that will open betting windows, but the NCAA and its usage of amateur athletes raises questions separate from the pros.
While the NBA and MLB have been laying policy groundwork for an “integrity fee” that would cut in sports leagues on tax revenue from gambling in some states, it is not known where the NCAA stands on the issue.
The NCAA does not host championships in states that allow betting on college games, but the Pac 12 and Mountain West conferences have hosted their conference tournaments in Las Vegas in recent seasons. Smaller events have been held in the city earlier in the basketball calendar, as well, since the NHL announced that it was welcoming the Golden Knights two years ago. The opening weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament has been big business for Las Vegas for years now.
The NCAA knows what it is to have games compromised by gamblers.
Most notably, the CCNY scandal of the early 1950s echoed across the city. The 1949-50 NCAA and NIT title banners still hang in the gym despite the fact that members of the championship team shaved points. The college deemphasized basketball afterward, but plenty of schools across the nation were ensnared in point-shaving scandals over time. Boston College, a member of the ACC, has had players involved with major gambling scandals in both football and men’s basketball.
“I’ve had plenty of problems myself, but thankfully I haven’t had that disease,” former NBA player Lloyd Daniels said. “Whether it is legal or illegal, people are going to gamble.”