Sports Fans On Facebook May Violate NCAA Recruiting Rules?
from the oh-come-on dept
We've seen way too many situations where modern technology has shown how ridiculous certain rules and regulations are. The latest involves the NCAA apparently freaking out about students at certain colleges setting up Facebook groups pleading with high-profile high school sports students to attend their universities. According to the NCAA such "recruiting" violates its rules that forbid trying to influence student athletes over which college to attend. Because of this, the NCAA has pushed the universities to reign in students, to the point that NC State sent one of its students a cease-and-desist, threatening "further action" if he didn't take down a Facebook group trying to attract a student athlete. The folks who sent the cease-and-desist admit that it's ridiculous, but they had to do so due to the NCAA pressure. They're hoping that the NCAA will back down on this:"I think nationally the NCAA needs to address further Facebook and how these groups play a part in recruiting. Is it realistic for us to be able to monitor them? What harm is a group like this causing? But as the legislation stands right now, this is the position we have to take."Of course, this is the same NCAA that has tried to limit reporters from live-blogging sporting events (though, it's done little to enforce those rules), so it would come as no surprise if it chose to continue down this path.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: ncaa, recruiting, social networks, sports
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
I think what you forget is that the Internet is just another way of doing things, it isn't special or unique, the rules are the rules, they have to be followed no matter where they take place.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
The epitome of a Lawful alignment.
Sadly, most rules are arbitrary and meaningless.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
that's what I keep telling the PoPo, but it's not working!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Or, the rules have to be changed. This isn't North Korea, if we don't like the rules, we can lobby to have them changed.
When the rules were originally written, it wasn't feasible for the average joe to gain national attention without the help of professional media outlets. That is no longer true.
What is to stop a group of alleged Alums to violate recruiting rules for a competing school, for the express purpose of getting that college banned?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Rules
> followed no matter where they take place.
The difference is that these aren't laws. They're just rules put in place between two parties (the university and the NCAA) who entered into a contract and agreed to them. I as a private citizen am under no legal obligation to follow the rules of some contract to which I was not a party and had nothing to do with.
Basically, the NCAA now thinks it can tell private citizens what they can and can’t say on the internet. They say this activity violates their rules against influencing student athletes. Well, my response would be "So what? Your rules only apply to the universities and their employees with whom you are in privity of contract. I’m not a member of the NCAA and I neither agreed to be nor am I legally bound by your rules."
And the universities that are bowing to NCAA pressure and trying to squelch their students' speech are opening themselves up to a significant 1st Amendment challenge.
As for alumni, once these people have graduated and are not even students any more, there's absolutely nothing either the university or the NCAA can do to stop them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I just don't see how verbal or written pleas from non-officals...
So if I send an email to friend that happens to be a great athlete to come to my college then I am in violation of recruiting rules? The above scenario is not much different.
I could understand if the prospects were being offered something to come that had monetary value.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I just don't see how verbal or written pleas from non-officals...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: I just don't see how verbal or written pleas from non-officals...
"The latest involves the NCAA apparently freaking out about students at certain colleges setting up Facebook groups pleading with high-profile high school sports students to attend their universities."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I just don't see how verbal or written pleas from non-officals...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Is there anything that I can do to pretend to be a fan of UNC, and get them in trouble for recruiting violations? In the absence of official ties, sabotage looks like the best route!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Move it to a Fan
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Move it to a Fan
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Above or below the table
I know how recruiting works on our campus, and I suspect a lot of others. If someone starts setting up facebook pages to do recruiting0, then our Sports Information Director is going to think that we need to do that, too. Before you know it, every school is going to be setting up a group for every athlete that they are recruiting. Everyone associated with the athletic department will be expected to subscribe to these groups. What started as a fun impromptu activity will get turned into an institutionalized bureaucratic system.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Above or below the table
I am not saying that you are wrong about what would happen. I am just asking how they have the right to stop it?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sports University or Learning University?
a flying leap. Universities are places of LEARNING,
not places for sports.
If you want to have a for-profit sports university,
go right ahead. Just let's give the money back to
the students who are there to get a degree in something
that's actually productive in life.
At my school, 50% of the general fee
went directly to sports. That's entirely disproportionate
to what the school is supposed to be doing, and causes
the situation where professors have to go beg for grants
because there is no money to do research.
Kick the sports out and get back to studying.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Sports University or Learning University?
"if business good, send daughters to small notheastern libral arts college, call professors by first name, get top education. If business is bad, forced to send daughters to state school, serious student no match for drunken jock-acracy . . . baseball caps everywhere . . "
LOL I always loved that . . .
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
FUNNIEST THING EVER
There not suppose to do this? This has been going on openly for decades now, college athlete recruiting is almost its own industry and its not hidden or secret? The NCAA is so corrupted at this point, do they really have any credibility anymore . . . not in my eyes (its just an professional sports organization that viciously exploits its athletes, nothing more).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Its not that the school officials can't contact a high school kid at all, its just that their contact is regulated and limited.
Are there rules that don't really make sense? Of course, and some schools have absolutely no problems following the spirit of the law. Unfortunately, we all know that you can do things that are not technically against the rules but totally against the spirit of the rules. That is why you end up with stupid rules (or laws) that target specific technical issues.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I love the smell of hypocricy in the...erm, afternoon
I'm with CmdrOberon on this one, at least in principle. Disassociate the teams from (what should be) places of learning. But I say let these kids join the minors at age 18, and if the minor league teams want to pay for them to go to school, like many businesses will do, let them. There's no need to get the colleges/universities involved in paying for their so-called education.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
USATODAY Article
KU-SPORTS Article
Sorry Techdirt...I'm probably subjecting yall to some sort of DMCA Take-Down notice here soon, aren't I (along with a subsequent lawsuit)?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Athletics can be paid for by the students that play them, not our tuition and alum boosters. Sports is not going to put food on the table when you get sidelined, or end up in jail because you are a piece of shit-po ghetto trash that cannot act like a human being.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Quite a few students choose a university in part because of its athletic department. Donors give money to universities in part because of its athletic department. Athletics is a major way people stay connected to their alma matter. When is the last time you heard anyone arguing about the latest debate team meet?
Another issue for funding is Title 9. Most universities have to offer women sports parity in terms of sports. Sure, Ohio State might not make money off athletics, but it sure isn't because of their football or basketball teams (men or women). Its because they field 86 athletic teams.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
"how can I avoid a bunch of jar-head jocks, what universities are not going to offer sports programs that drain the college coffers?"
My conclusions: MIT, RIT, RPI
And since I received my PHD at 24, I think I did well without having retarded sports programs.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
The music department is actually one of the biggest magnets of the school, especially the choirs. Yet, someone in administration appropriated the funds from the music departments account, stating that "they were needed for more important things". This was the final amount needed to start construction on the new sports complex. Needless to say, the construction on the recital hall that was ALREADY in progress and almost done had to be immediately halted.
Good thinking there...
There was quite a bit of a debate that occurred around the campus and the only reason that the music department got the funds back was because someone on the School's Board got wind of the matter and fired the administrator for fraud.
Point is, that for a school where the athletic department gets about 40% of the school's budget but can't bring in that much (basically...a sinkhole), it's rather ironic that the rest of the school would be funding this department from their own budgets (I was in the small chamber choir...we pretty much made the entire music department's budget for the year (scholarships and all) in the 5-day tours that we took...Alumni liked us...and they were rather well off)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I'll start complaining. :-)
As it is, music is probably just after the math & physic departments on
the priority list for cash. So, your comparison is rather weak.
As for title 9, you are wrong. Title 9 only requires equivalence. If there
are no men's sports, there need not be women's sports. $9 million on men's, means $9 million on women's.
Let me ask you this: How many football teams are fully funded? How many
physics research labs are fully funded?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Easy way around prohibition
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The fact that if you don't get the other college banned you just paid money to have a kid you wanted playing for the opposition?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Facebook
[ link to this | view in chronology ]