NEW YORK — Finding an NCAA rule that lacks common sense isn’t particularly difficult these days. But as the Supreme Court considers a case that would effectively open the door to legalizing sports gambling nationwide, the NCAA’s ban on championships in Las Vegas remains the undisputed champion of misguided purity.
The NCAA has long been officially opposed to sports betting, even to the point of moving some championship events out of New Jersey in 2012, when the state passed a law allowing betting on college events. Even though conferences like the Pac-12 and Mountain West played their postseason basketball tournaments in Las Vegas for several years without incident, the NCAA continued to clutch its pearls, excluding the friendliest city in the country from hosting NCAA tournament games and others. national championships.
Even if the NCAA’s stance toward Las Vegas has served no purpose other than satisfying a sense of morality, its hand may soon be forced. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday on New Jersey’s right to allow sports betting, paving the way for potentially overturning the 25-year-old Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAPSA).
SUPREME COURT:Why the sports betting ban is about to be overturned
MORE:When college football coaching staffs turn into family reunions
SALARIES:Highest Paid Football Assistant Coaches: Are They Worth It or Overpaid?
If this law is overturned and Nevada no longer has the exclusive right to allow sports betting, the NCAA would likely have to abandon one of its most controversial statutes as more states legalize it.
And once that happens, it probably won’t take long for Las Vegas to become an epicenter of college sports, potentially hosting College Football Playoff championship games and Final Fours.
“It’s inevitable,” said Jim Livengood, former Arizona and UNLV athletic director and current Las Vegas resident. “It’s not about the game, it’s about how you regulate it. I know it’s selfish, but Vegas regulates this as well as anyone. It’s not an if, it’s a when. It’s going to happen.
The potential for a very different environment around the game was a major topic in New York this week at the Learfield Intercollegiate Athletics Forum, where hundreds of college sports executives gathered for roundtable discussions on a range of topics affecting their businesses.
NCAA President Mark Emmert made an appearance here Wednesday and suggested the possibility of an “exclusion” if PAPSA is overturned, essentially pressuring states to exclude college sports if play becomes legal nationwide.
That would be a mistake.
Sports betting is good for college sports. This generates interest and popularity. And if it’s going to be legalized nationwide, smart, progressive leagues will find a way to take advantage of it rather than fight it and find themselves left behind.
If universities and conferences don’t consider the possibility that it will become normal for fans to stop by the betting parlor every Saturday before heading to the tailgate, they don’t understand their customers, many of whom are already betting on their games illegally or online. .
“I’m certainly interested in what that outcome might be,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said. “I have not had time to review the information contained in the arguments, and we will await that decision. I don’t know if I’m predicting adjustments, per se, on our side, but I also don’t assume that there won’t be some level of attention to the realities that might arise from this decision if it changes it for us. (We are) paying attention, and the decision could certainly impact our broader culture and it affects sports culture. But it’s hard to sit here and plan effectively without having made a decision. »
Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said, “We’ve certainly given it a lot of thought and looked at the implications. I think it depends a little bit on what the law looks like, but I’m not convinced that’s necessarily the direction the Supreme Court will take.
Like many elements of the NCAA’s “amateurism” model, no one has provided a sufficient explanation for why sports betting and college sports cannot coexist in the same geographic area – especially when it is already the case.
TENNESSEE:Jeremy Pruitt finalizes deal to become Vols coach
ARKANSAS:SMU’s Chad Morris agrees to be Razorbacks’ new coach
MORE:Amway Coach’s Call of the Year Semi-Finals: Vote
The NCAA can’t control where conferences hold their big events, which is why many of them are naturally drawn to Las Vegas because that’s where the market tells them to go. Potential marquee events such as college baseball’s regional championships, women’s basketball’s Final Four or hockey’s Frozen Four would naturally attract more fans simply because of the location.
And with the NHL and NFL moving their franchises to Las Vegas, it should be obvious by now that the NCAA has everything to gain and little to lose by following suit.
While the NCAA should certainly be proactive in determining whether its own athletes and coaches bet on sports – an issue it studies through an anonymous survey every four years – it has little to do with the place where matches are played.
Additionally, the correlation between the physical location of a legal sportsbook and whether an outcome is compromised by gambling is tenuous to say the least. A history of NCAA point-splitting scandals, from San Diego in 2011 to Northwestern in 1995 to Tulane in 1985 to Boston College in 1978, will tell you that integrity violations are not limited to one moment or at a particular place.
And while they may fight it, the people at the NCAA are smart enough to know that a major change in sports gambling laws will ultimately usurp any attempt to remove events from states that allow betting on their games.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Emmert said. “Obviously, if sports betting is found everywhere in the country, we will not stop the championships. We will play wherever necessary. But we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
The NCAA, however, should be able to lead rather than follow. His conferences have already proven that sports betting can coexist with major events. Fear of gambling can give college presidents a hard time and enable them to perform well in committee meetings, but it completely lacks consistency.
It will take a lot to move the NCAA toward common sense, but this time, the Supreme Court just might be able to do it.
