Despite NCAA request, FanDuel says it won’t end college fantasy games
Despite an NCAA request, daily fantasy sports company FanDuel says it will not stop offering college sports-based games.
ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported Monday that FanDuel’s chief legal counsel, Christian Genetski, notified NCAA executive vice president Mark Lewis of the site’s plans via email. He wrote that FanDuel does “not plan to make changes to our games at this time, and certainly not without further conversations with you.”
The NCAA said last week that it planned to keep advertisements for FanDuel and its competitor DraftKings off of television and away from arenas during the NCAA Tournament, in conjunction with CBS and Turner Broadcasting. The NCAA has maintained that daily and season-long fantasy games fall under the umbrella of gambling.
FanDuel maintains that the NCAA does not have legal basis to order them to desist, arguing that names tied to statistics are not subject to athletes’ approval, and thus “cannot implicate their amateur status.” Genetski wrote in the email that the company plans to refrain from using athletes’ likenesses or names in their advertisements, in accordance with NCAA rules.
The issue centers around the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which stipulates that fantasy sports does not constitute gambling, and has largely protected daily fantasy sites from being considered illegal. The NCAA argues that FanDuel and DraftKings could still be in violation of that law.
The NCAA has banned participation in daily fantasy games for all of its athletes, regardless of sport.
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- Jeremy Woo
