Russell Report: NCAA has some decisions to make regarding sports betting and college athletes

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – Usually when talking to you about sports, we talk about games, results, or athletes. Today, I am going to tell you about something sort of flying under the radar, but this thing could have a major impact on sports if not acted upon. This thing is immense pressure on college athletes from bettors on game outcomes.

The NCAA says, according to ESPN, that one in every three-star athletes have received abuse or threats from bettors on games and that more than 500 athletes received those same threats during championship tournaments in March which included death threats. As someone who has never bet on a sporting event in his life except for a couple of horse races, this shocked me. The NCAA says the online abuse towards players in the most high-profile sports, basketball and football, is real and widespread. The NCAA is proposing a ban on what is called prop betting on college players that take into account such things in basketball like over/under on a player’s points or rebounds in a game. This issue is ongoing, and it will be interesting to see the direction that this ultimately will take.

One thing you do know about is the dreaded name, image and likeness issue, and it never seems to go away. One thing I think we all need to get a grip on here is that nil is here to stay, in some form or fashion. If the NCAA follows through on settling a number of lawsuits that are out there, primarily the house vs NCAA, the amount of money that the NCAA is apparently agreeing to pay in back damages is in the neighborhood of $2.7B. I often ask what the future holds when it comes to this, and if anyone tells you they know for sure what will happen, don’t believe them. No one knows. But I do believe we are heading for schools to take over nil in some capacity and that the amount of money being given to an athlete will be made public, just like it is for a pro athlete. Stay tuned, more is coming when it comes to this issue.

I don’t spend a lot of time talking about the NBA but I’ve got to tell you, the playoffs this year have been great to watch. Unlike the regular season when teams take time off during an 82-game regular season schedule, when the playoffs begin, the intensity is great, and the effort is there as well. Maybe there is no other sport where the effort difference between regular season and playoffs is so pronounced.

Finally, this is a great time of year for Gator spring sports. The Florida Men’s Golf team, the defending national champion, has qualified for the NCAA finals again. The Gator Lacrosse team is in the final four and is in the midst of one of the best seasons in school history. Florida Softball blew through their NCAA regional and will now host a super-regional hoping to get back to the College World Series. Florida Baseball starts play in the SEC Tournament tomorrow hoping they can do enough to sneak into an NCAA regional and Gator Track and Field is gearing up for NCAA championships as well. The Gator sports season is winding down but there’s still plenty of excitement left! I’m Steve Russell, that’s the Russell Report!

RELATED: Russell Report: It’s the end of an era as Jac Caglianone plays what may be his last Gator home game

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

Copyright 2024 WCJB. All rights reserved.