NCAA and Genius Sports extension seeks to protect college athletes from negative prop bets

The NCAA and Genius Sports announced a multi-year expansion of their partnership earlier this year, making Genius the exclusive distributor of official NCAA data to licensed sportsbooks through 2032.

There is a caveat to the agreement, NCAA President Charlie Baker said Tuesday.

“For them to continue to access our data moving forward, there can’t be any sportsbook betting on negative props,” Baker said. “So all the stuff that literally translates into a lot of the worst behavior that’s directed at young people and student-athletes generally under this agreement is going to be off the table.”

College athletes have long been subject to online abuse. In a 2024 study, analysts verified over 5,000 posts towards athletes containing abusive content. Of the abusive posts, the study found 80% were directed at March Madness athletes, with female basketball players receiving about three times more abusive messages than men’s players.

More than 740 instances, or 12% of the abuse, pertained to sports betting.

Baker has heard similar feedback from athletes, but the abuse goes beyond social media. Athletes are pressured to fulfill prop bets, including missing a free throw or muffing a catch.

“Student-athletes don’t like the idea of being approached to begin with around that kind of issue,” Baker said at the Knight Commission of Intercollegiate Athletics meeting. “They especially don’t like being nudged into something that’s not in the best interest of themselves or their teams, and more importantly, they all make clear to me they felt enormous social pressure to quote, help a guy out.”

Most of that pressure comes via social media, but athletes could face some of that in person. An NCAA-conducted survey showed over half of 18- to 22-year-olds were recent sports bettors. Age restrictions didn’t play a factor. Betting rates at ages 18, 19 and 20 were the same as ages 21 and 22, meaning college campuses are full of sports bettors, Baker explained.

The contract negotiation with Genius is one step the NCAA has taken to reduce prop bets and minimize abuse. Other efforts have included tracking and publishing online abuse data and pushing state gaming authorities to peel back rules around college prop bets.

Still, it’s a work in progress.

“At this point, slightly more than half the states that have legalized sports betting do not permit prop betting on college sports, but that still leaves enormous numbers of student-athletes subject to the kind of abuse that comes with this stuff. And I think it will remain, for all intents and purposes, a significant challenge going forward,” Baker said.

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AP Sports Writer Eric Olson contributed to this report.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports