NCAA flip-flops on betting, now supports federal regulations

The US body overseeing college athletics has flip-flopped on its policy of not holding championship games in states that permit legal sports betting.

On Thursday, the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) issued a statement saying that, in response to the US Supreme Court striking down the federal sports betting prohibition, the NCAA’s board of directors had decided to “temporarily” suspend its “championship host policy related to sports wagering.”

The NCAA had previously used its championship host policy as a cudgel with which to threaten states like New Jersey into abandoning their pursuit of legal wagering. The NCAA argued at the time that the threat was justified in order to defend “the integrity of sports and student-athlete well-being” from the alleged scourge of legal wagering.

But that was then, this is now. The NCAA now claims that it supports “a federal model addressing legalized gambling.” NCAA president Mark Emmert acknowledged “the critical role of state governments” in the whole democracy thing, but “strong federal standards are necessary to safeguard the integrity of college sports and the athletes who play these games at all levels.”