The NCAA Division I Interpretations Committee has ruled that individual colleges and schools can sign deals to provide statistics to sports wagering companies, opening the door to lucrative sports betting contracts.
As reported by Yahoo Finance, any permitted deals would be dependent on the data being available to the general public but would allow conferences and colleges to gain from the vast sums of money spent on their product for sports betting purposes.
Reports in the lead up to the NCAA ‘March Madness’ tournament claimed that it could ‘triple’ the wagering handle of the Super Bowl, but under current regulations, individual colleges and conferences could not benefit from such activities.
However, it appears that the NCAA is loosening its grip on tight sports betting regulations, as it is delegating more decisions to individual conferences. This change in governance is highlighted by President Mark Emmet’s announcement to leave mid-contract, allowing the change in decision-making to happen smoothly.
Currently, the NCAA has a sports data partnership agreement with Genius Sports, signing a ten-year contract back in 2018 in the aftermath of the PASPA repeal.
Furthermore, Genius secured a deal with the Mid-American Conference last month to ‘capture, manage and distribute’ official statistics.
