NCAA Hammered for Hypocritical Message as March Madness Begins
An estimated $10.4 billion — with a “B.”
That’s how much is bet each year on March Madness as 70 million NCAA Tournament brackets are filled out each spring.
Office pools and betting are as synonymous with March Madness as “One Shining Moment” and the games themselves.
But despite the money that exchanges hands this time of the year, the NCAA wants it to be known that it doesn’t encourage betting during March Madness.
It put up a message on the scoreboard during one of Thursday’s early games that read, “Don’t bet on it: The NCAA opposes all forms of legal and illegal sports wagering.”
Pfffffffft. pic.twitter.com/qAaujZMH8U
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) March 21, 2019
The $10.4 billion that March Madness gets in wagers is barely topped by the $10.8 billion television rights agreement that the NCAA has with its broadcast partners for the tournament.
None of that money will go the ones generating that revenue — the players — but the NCAA is trying its darnedest to make sure that fans don’t cash in on bets as well.
Despite explicitly stating that it opposes all forms of wagering, the NCAA has no problem allowing fans to play the Bracket Challenge on its official website.
This hypocritical stance hasn’t gone unnoticed by fans.
— Lousy Smarch Weather (@Frustrated_Fan) March 21, 2019
Third headline down on their website right now. pic.twitter.com/WuGvocL4P6
— Jonathan Lintner (@JonathanLintner) March 21, 2019
But they have tips for the best bracket this year cc @PardonMyTake pic.twitter.com/KuoXbFDO0F
— Hiser (@thenathanhiser) March 21, 2019
BS statements by the NCAA like this make me want the student athletes paid even more! https://t.co/WRw2KlTZL0
— Kyle Pfeffenberger (@kpfeff432) March 21, 2019
The student-athletes not profiting from the tournament was the biggest source of ridicule from many users on social media. It also made them think about the NCAA commercial that premiered this week and is supposed to show a “day in the life” of a student-athlete.
Student and athlete — a day in the life. pic.twitter.com/KBLa1gBLnq
— NCAA (@NCAA) March 17, 2019
Many former student-athletes blasted that commercial for not being an accurate representation of their college experiences.
Alex Caruso of the Los Angeles Lakers pointed out that everyone in the video made more money from the NCAA than any student-athlete has ever made.
Y’all paid the actors in this more than the real Student Athletes https://t.co/DfhJUCQFfz
— Alex Caruso (@ACFresh21) March 19, 2019
But the NCAA apparently doesn’t care if that’s not an actual representation, or if student-athletes don’t get paid. All the organization seems to care about is the $209 million it will get from CBS/Turner to broadcast just Thursday’s 16 games on their networks.
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