The SEC has asked the NCAA to rescind a pending rule change that will allow athletes and athletic department staff to bet on professional sports, according to a copy of a memo obtained by ESPN on Tuesday.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey sent a letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker on Oct. 25, stating that during a conference on Oct. 13, “the message from our presidents and chancellors was clear and united: this policy change represents an important step in the wrong direction.”
Last week, the NCAA Division I cabinet approved a rule change to allow betting on professional sports, and the administrative boards of Divisions II and III also approved it, allowing it to take effect Saturday. NCAA athletes are still prohibited from betting on college sports and sharing information about college sports with bettors. Betting sites also cannot advertise or sponsor NCAA championships.
“On behalf of our universities, I write to urge the NCAA Division I Board of Directors to take action to rescind this change and reaffirm the Association's commitment to maintaining strong national standards that keep collegiate participants separate from sports betting activity at all levels,” Sankey wrote. “If there are legal or practical concerns about the above policy, they should be addressed through careful refinement, not by the complete removal of barriers that have long supported the integrity of the games and the well-being of those who participate.”
The legislative change on sports betting was initially going to take effect Nov. 1, but the NCAA Division I Board voted Tuesday to delay it until Nov. 22, one day after the membership termination period closed.
If the rule goes into effect, it will mark a change in a long-standing policy that had become difficult to enforce with a rise in legal sports betting in the United States. The NCAA has faced an increase in alleged betting violations by players in recent years. In September, the NCAA announced that a Fresno State men's basketball player had manipulated his own performance for betting purposes and conspired with two other players in a prop betting scheme. The NCAA is investigating 13 additional players from six schools for possible in-game violations related to integrity issues.
On Oct. 22, when the NCAA announced adoption of the new proposal, it stated that approving the rule change “is not an endorsement of sports betting, particularly for student-athletes.”
“Our action reflects cross-divisional alignment while maintaining the principles that guide college sports,” Roberta Page, Slippery Rock director of athletics and chairwoman of the Division II Administrative Council, said in the NCAA news release. “This change recognizes the realities of the current sports environment without compromising our commitment to protecting the integrity of collegiate competition or the well-being of student-athletes.”
Sankey wrote that “the integrity of the competition is directly threatened when an insider gets involved in the game.” He also said the SEC is “equally concerned about the vulnerability of our student-athletes.”
“The SEC presidents and chancellors believe that the NCAA should restore its previous policy, or a modified policy, communicating a prohibition on gambling by student-athletes and athletic personnel, regardless of the divisional level of their sport,” Sankey wrote. “While policy may be considered to be developed and enacted at the campus or conference level, NCAA policy has long been an expression of our collective integrity, and its elimination sends the wrong signal at a time when the gaming industry is expanding its reach and influence.”
ESPN's Pete Thamel contributed to this report.
