Last month, the Mid-American Conference asked the NCAA for more guidance on sports wagering constraints. What the conference requested concerned a portion of the Division 1 manual which says athletes, school staff and conference employees may not offer information that could end up associated with sports wagering, according to Sportico.
On April 27, The Division I Interpretations Committee responded and decided that an individual, school, or conference can provide stats to sports wagering companies, as long as the same information can be accessed by the public at large.
The decision should open the doors for universities and other schools to sell their data and other info to sportsbooks. Such deals have proven lucrative to pro leagues like the NBA and NFL, as have associations with sportsbooks. The MAC moved in that direction when it signed a deal with Genius Sports last month. The NCAA ruling could allow the conference to sell data to Genius which can sell it to sportsbooks.
And whatever the MAC earned on this deal, the mammoth Big Ten and SEC will make that much more.
It’s all part of a new approach by the NCAA to defer its authority to the individual schools or conferences. The old worries of integrity and possible cheating scandals fell by the wayside. The fear spoke to the fact that college athletes were not compensated beside room and board in college. Even that could be drawing to a close.
NBA, NFL teams have to pay a set percentage of team/league revenue to the players. So, revenue from data deals goes to the athletes. The NFL players association revenue-sharing agreement with the NFL. Licensed player data is included in that section of the CBA, ensuring players receive compensation for those deals.
“One theoretically could attempt to make an argument that the players in professional sports leagues, based upon the salaries that they’re receiving, are engaging in a work-for-hire,” said Marc Edelman, a law professor at Baruch College, who has extensive experience working with sports, gaming, and antitrust legislation.
