NCAA Conferences, Players, & Schools May Now Sell Data

• College conferences, players, and schools may now sign deals that allow them to sell their data to sports gambling data providers.
• The announcement was a big step for the NCAA, but it is not the first, and will not be the last, time that they support sports gambling.

INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA’s Division 1 Interpretation Committee recently decided that conferences, individuals, and schools, may provide their data and other statistics to sports betting sites as long as any information that is given out is also available to the public by the NCAA. That decision is a stark contrast to their previous beliefs surrounding sports gambling.

What Does This Mean?

The Interpretation Committee’s announcement means that conferences, individuals, and schools, can sign deals with sports betting companies who then distribute that data out to sportsbooks. The NCAA had been lagging behind, like the NBA, NFL, and NHL had already signed data-driven deals like the ones now allowed years ago.

Those data-driven deals do not partner the league or conferences with a given legal online sportsbook but allow those sportsbooks to pay their partners for the official data. With the constant NCAA statement about college athletics being more prone to point-shaving than professional leagues, it was important for the NCAA to remain its distance from the sportsbooks.

This announcement does not necessarily mean that the NCAA has officially taken a pro sports betting stance, but it shows they are evolving. The NCAA recently announced that President Mark Emmert was stepping down, and given his thoughts on gambling, this may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Other Sports Betting Deals In The NCAA

While the announcement did not lead to an immediate announcement about partnerships between data providers and any of the parties, it surely will. NCAA conferences, individuals, and schools all will want to get in on the action.

No schools have officially partnered to distribute any of their data yet, but Colorado University, Louisiana State University, and Maryland University have all partnered with different sportsbooks. In fact, Colorado’s deal with the sportsbook is worth $1.65 million per year over five years, plus they get a $30 bonus anytime they refer someone.

College Football betting fans may have even noticed that the 2022 Fiesta Bowl had a partnership with Caesars that resulted in a lounge and the major bowl game as well as title sponsorship of a few live events.

Those sorts of partnerships are rare, but they will definitely not be the last of their kind.

News tags: Colorado | Louisiana State University | Maryland | NCAA