Monday, April 02, 2007

Public interest in NCAA basketball largely centers on informal contests
among family, friends, and colleagues to guess the winners by filling out a
chart for the 127 games. This "bracketology," as it's called, easily slips
into making bets. For many people, it also leads to big financial losses or
a spiral into gambling addiction. The NCAA knows that gambling is corrupting
its big sports, or at least its image. A 2004 poll found 35 percent of male
college athletes and 10 percent of female athletes gambled on college or pro
sports events. Another poll, done last year by New Jersey-based Seton Hall
University, found that about one-fifth of Americans believed college
basketball players intentionally influenced the outcome of games because of
gambling interests. Yet despite such worrisome figures, the association has
become overcommercialized, such as signing a $6 billion contract with CBS,
the biggest single sports deal in history. The basketball finals are now a
major media event, earning so much money that critics say the NCAA and its
more than 1,000 members are exploiting students. To prevent the players from
gambling, the NCAA even brought in the FBI to speak to its top
basketball teams. And it is taking a new national survey of its
student-athletes to estimate how many are betting on games, taking bribes to
influence a game, or revealing information about their teams to professional
bookies. The organization has had some success in making sure more athletes
actually keep up their studies and graduate from college, although the
record remains much better for whites than for blacks. The NCAA needs to
keep reminding its colleges, the public - and itself - that the primary
purpose of school sports is educational. Fortunately, colleges or students
wanting to opt out of the NCAA "madness" can find a nice contrast in the
much smaller National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). That
282-member group has recently been promoting itself as the "anti-NCAA" with
a "character" program for its intercollegiate athletics. Both fans and
athletes are taught how to behave at games and afterward, while colleges
purposely try not to turn games into money-driven entertainment. In its
seminars for coaches and athletes, NAIA also emphasizes the values of
sports - such as leadership and responsibility - unlike the NCAA's primary
emphasis on winning - and earnings. Gambling can find little foothold in
sports run with educational values at the forefront. And colleges that put
the interests of athletes first will find they are less addicted to
royalties from TV contracts.