Saturday, April 18, 2009

The Big Bad NCAA Is At It Again...

Some of you may heard Delaware is considering legalizing sports wagering. New governor Jack Markell and the state legislature are formulating a plan to have a bill passed by the end of the year. According to this Philadelphia Daily News article, the Delaware plan for sports wagering will not allow for single bets. All bets will have to be part of multiple bet parlays.

It should come as no surprise to anyone the NCAA wants to have a say in this. The Sports Network reported in March the NCAA is threatening to prohibit the University of Delware, Delaware State and Wesley College from hosting any NCAA playoff games if the state legalizes sports betting. This is another case of the NCAA attempting to throw its weight around in small states and markets, much as it did when started its effort to get the University of North Dakota to end its use of the Fighting Sioux nickname (while large schools such as Florida State go largely unscathed). Generally, the NCAA's effort against sports betting will only effect the University of Delaware, which has hosted 14 Division I-AA playoff games over the years. It has been a given in I-AA football that if Delaware gets a playoff bid, the school will host at least one playoff game because the Blue Hens consistently are among the leaders in attendance in Division I-AA (I still refuse to call it the Football Championship Subdivision). So, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. Personally, as a JMU alumnus and season ticket holder, Delaware being prohibited from hosting playoff games would make me quite happy. But, I'd still think the reasoning behind it is asinine.

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