DMN:
WASHINGTON -- Advertisements for fantasy football-related websites like FanDuel and FantasyKings on weekend ESPN and Fox Sports broadcasts are another sign of the powerful and corrupting influence of big money on college sports, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said Monday.
If colleges and the conferences they play in can't check that influence -- which he called "the search for the Holy Grail -- bigger and bigger television contracts" -- the integrity of college sports will continue to suffer, Bowlsby said.
FantasyKings and sites like it invite online players to deposit funds in accounts and then pay to put fantasy teams of their own making into competition with those of other players. They claim the sites are legal, and not gambling, because they require players to depend on their skills in assembling their teams rather than just luck in betting on one team or another's on-field results.
Speaking in Washington at the National Press Club, Bowlsby disagreed.
"We are starting to see a proliferation around gambling that is really quite remarkable," he said. "We have cover alerts on our TV coverage, point spreads are routinely promoted. Some of the fantasy games -- weekly and daily games -- you are never going to convince me it's not gambling. Is there skill involved? Sure there is. There's skill involved in blackjack too. This is gambling."
He said the risk is that college sports will become increasingly indistinguishable from pro sports.
"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, then pretty soon it's hard to determine it's not a duck," he said. "That's where we are."
Money, he said, has touched the sport in all kinds of ways.
"We all are driven by money," said Bowlsby, who leads the 10-member conference in which Texas, TCU, Texas Tech and Baylor all compete. "It's all about money."
He also said schools wouldn't allow conferences to grow so big and at the expense of ancient rivalries if they weren't letting thirst for bigger TV contracts cloud judgments. Beer sales at stadiums send the wrong message, he said. "In search of the Holy Grail -- which is TV money -- we are routinely selling alcohol at college games despite the fact that three-fourths of the undergraduates at the games are underage."
Schools put the pursuit of TV revenue and exposure ahead of students' interest as well, every time they schedule a weeknight game. "Friday night used to be completely sacrosanct. We would never play on a Friday night," he said. "Now we play Friday nights, Thursday nights, Wednesday nights and Tuesday nights."
Bowlsby joined the Big 12 as commissioner three years ago from Stanford, where as athletics director he managed a $100 million budget.
He said Monday that the National Collegiate Athletic Association is in store for big changes in the next few years.
The NCAA may need to reorganize itself, grouping schools with similarly sized athletics departments together, he said. It may even decide in time that conferences like his should be disbanded and confederated organizations built around each sport, rather than by conference, be created.
WASHINGTON -- Advertisements for fantasy football-related websites like FanDuel and FantasyKings on weekend ESPN and Fox Sports broadcasts are another sign of the powerful and corrupting influence of big money on college sports, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said Monday.
If colleges and the conferences they play in can't check that influence -- which he called "the search for the Holy Grail -- bigger and bigger television contracts" -- the integrity of college sports will continue to suffer, Bowlsby said.
FantasyKings and sites like it invite online players to deposit funds in accounts and then pay to put fantasy teams of their own making into competition with those of other players. They claim the sites are legal, and not gambling, because they require players to depend on their skills in assembling their teams rather than just luck in betting on one team or another's on-field results.
Speaking in Washington at the National Press Club, Bowlsby disagreed.
"We are starting to see a proliferation around gambling that is really quite remarkable," he said. "We have cover alerts on our TV coverage, point spreads are routinely promoted. Some of the fantasy games -- weekly and daily games -- you are never going to convince me it's not gambling. Is there skill involved? Sure there is. There's skill involved in blackjack too. This is gambling."
He said the risk is that college sports will become increasingly indistinguishable from pro sports.
"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, then pretty soon it's hard to determine it's not a duck," he said. "That's where we are."
Money, he said, has touched the sport in all kinds of ways.
"We all are driven by money," said Bowlsby, who leads the 10-member conference in which Texas, TCU, Texas Tech and Baylor all compete. "It's all about money."
He also said schools wouldn't allow conferences to grow so big and at the expense of ancient rivalries if they weren't letting thirst for bigger TV contracts cloud judgments. Beer sales at stadiums send the wrong message, he said. "In search of the Holy Grail -- which is TV money -- we are routinely selling alcohol at college games despite the fact that three-fourths of the undergraduates at the games are underage."
Schools put the pursuit of TV revenue and exposure ahead of students' interest as well, every time they schedule a weeknight game. "Friday night used to be completely sacrosanct. We would never play on a Friday night," he said. "Now we play Friday nights, Thursday nights, Wednesday nights and Tuesday nights."
Bowlsby joined the Big 12 as commissioner three years ago from Stanford, where as athletics director he managed a $100 million budget.
He said Monday that the National Collegiate Athletic Association is in store for big changes in the next few years.
The NCAA may need to reorganize itself, grouping schools with similarly sized athletics departments together, he said. It may even decide in time that conferences like his should be disbanded and confederated organizations built around each sport, rather than by conference, be created.
