In what can be described as a big shift from its historically cautious stance on sports betting, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced Friday it will start selling data from its championship events to sportsbooks across the country.
Major Change for the NCAA
The move is part of an expanded agreement with Genius Sports, marking a big step into territory the NCAA had largely avoided until now.
For years, the NCAA kept its distance from the legal betting industry, even as major pro leagues cashed in through data and sponsorship deals.
NCAA leadership, meanwhile, repeatedly voiced concerns about gambling’s impact on student-athletes, lobbying lawmakers to limit bets on college sports.
Now, under the expanded partnership, NYSE-listed Genius Sports will be able to sell real-time data from all post-season NCAA championships, including the men’s and women’s March Madness tournaments, for which it will have exclusivity as a distributor, through 2032.
However, regular-season games and major college football bowl games, like the College Football Playoff, are not part of the deal.
The newly inked long-term agreement guarantees quick, accurate, and safe data to be delivered to regulated sports betting markets.
Genius will not pay extra for these new rights. Instead, both sides will stick to the revenue-sharing model they first agreed to in 2018, according to a source familiar with the deal who spoke anonymously.
Genius disclosed the update in a public filing at the end of last week.
NCAA Boss Worried About Sports Betting Perils
This change comes just months after NCAA president Charlie Baker testified before Congress about the dangers of sports betting.
He revealed that one team had to be assigned 24/7 security after threats from a gambler and said hundreds of college athletes have reported being pressured to manipulate game outcomes.
A 2023 study by the NCAA and Signify Group also found that “angry sports bettors” were behind about 12% of online harassment directed at college athletes.
Still, the NCAA hopes the partnership can help it tackle betting-related risks.
The agreement requires sportsbooks that access NCAA data through Genius to join an Authorized Gaming License (AGL) program, which includes pledges to avoid “risky bet types.”
As part of the deal, Genius Sports will also work together with interested licensees to further improve integrity protections while promoting responsible betting practices.
However, it is still uncertain what would count as risky. Baker, a strong advocate for banning player-specific prop bets, said last year, “I despise the idea that we put these kids in the position where people would expect their individual performance to be more important than the performance of their team.”
Genius will also continue providing free LiveStats services to NCAA schools while looking to enhance the platform using its in-house AI technology, GeniusIQ, which is also a machine learning platform meant to boost the college sports experience overall.
Genius Sports’ chief executive officer, Mark Locke, emphasized the importance of the extended partnership for both sides.
“Since 2018, Genius Sports’ technology has transformed the college sports data ecosystem,” Locke said, adding the extension represents “a powerful endorsement” of their vision to deliver “cutting-edge data solutions to support NCAA schools”.
The partnership, which is “grounded in innovation, integrity, and a shared commitment to the future of collegiate athletics”, will also connect the company’s sportsbook partners with the “highest quality NCAA official content” alongside exclusive NFL and Premier League rights.