The NCAA will allow sports betting states to host championship events, which could open the door for March Madness, and other events, to return to New Jersey. Watch video
The NCAA’s evolution on sports betting has begun, and one adjustment is welcomed news for New Jersey’s college athletics programs.
The governing body for most college sports said Thursday it supports “a federal model addressing legalized gambling,” and will also suspend its policy of prohibiting states that offer sports betting from hosting championship events following Monday’s Supreme Court decision that ruled the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) is unconstitutional and cleared the way for New Jersey and other states to legalize sports betting.
The championship event change could have a significant impact on New Jersey college sports. The NCAA said the policy suspension is temporary and is designed to maintain continuity with already-determined future sites, but allowed its Board of Governors “may consider more permanent revisions of the championship host policy.”
The obvious potential benefit for New Jersey would be the return of NCAA men’s basketball Tournament games to the Prudential Center in Newark. The arena last hosted tournament games in 2011, but the Garden State has been more or less locked out by the NCAA’s policy since it began its now-successful push for sports betting.
Asked if this opens the door to the Prudential Center hosting NCAA men’s basketball tournament games in the near future, state Sen. Richard Codey, D-Essex, said: “Of course. Otherwise, where are they going to play? Utah?”
Codey’s quip was in reference to the likelihood that many other states will follow New Jersey’s lead and legalize sports betting in the months and years to come.
But the former New Jersey governor speaks from the heart, too, because he’s a big college basketball fan, frequently attending games at both Rutgers and at Seton Hall.
Although future NCAA men’s college basketball tournament sites have been determined through 2022, Codey said he expects Newark’s downtown arena to make a strong effort to lure the NCAA Tournament for as early as 2023. A Seton Hall spokesman told NJ Advance Media the university would be interested in bidding for future NCAA Tournament games in conjunction with its partners at the Prudential Center.
“It helps the colleges like Seton Hall, like Rutgers, like Princeton, but it also helps all of our colleges to host NCAA Tournament games,” Codey said. “It’s a good experience. We are a basketball-crazed state. (The NCAA’s new policy) is great for the state, it’s great for college basketball in the state.”
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It goes beyond March Madness at The Rock, though.
There are 27 colleges in New Jersey that play on the various three levels of the NCAA, and many lower-division schools — including from the Division III-level New Jersey Athletic Conference — have been impacted by the NCAA policy in recent years as well.
“I believe our NJAC member institutions will be pleased with the decision by the NCAA Board of Governors to suspend the current championships hosting policy which prohibits NCAA Championship events from occurring in states that offer sports wagering,” NJAC Commissioner Terry Small said. “Our member institutions are preparing to host NCAA Championship events both now and in the future, and this decision provides some assurances as they continue in those championship hosting preparations.”
In 2013, Montclair State’s field hockey, soccer and women’s basketball teams each had earned the rights to host NCAA Tournament games by virtue of their respective records and regional seedings.
But the NCAA barred the Division III school from hosting because of New Jersey’s yet-to-be-enacted law that legalized sports betting.
“This preliminary announcement,” Montclair Athletics Director Holly Gera said, “is good news for all New Jersey NCAA institutions.”
That includes Ramapo, whose men’s basketball team had earned the right to host early-round NCAA Division III Tournament games by virtue of its NJAC Championship and 23-4 record in 2013. Instead, the Mahwah-based school had to “host” the tournament on the campus of Nyack College in New York.
With 506 fans in attendance — its NJAC championship win over Rutgers-Newark drew twice that total — Ramapo was upset by Morrisville State in the opening round.
In 2012, the NCAA selected Trenton as one of four regional host sites for its 2013 Division I women’s basketball tournament. It made sense considering Sun National Bank Center — now called CURE Insurance Arena – had previously hosted NCAA women’s tournaments in 2006 and ’09.
But in 2013, the NCAA moved the regional to Connecticut because of New Jersey’s efforts to permit sports betting.
Rutgers last hosted an NCAA Tournament women’s basketball game in 2008-09, winning first- and second-round games en route to a Sweet 16 ouster.
The way the process works for Division I schools like Rutgers to host is to submit to the NCAA a bid for teams with a realistic shot of making the field. Rutgers officials told NJ Advance Media that the athletics department submitted bids to host NCAA early-round games in women’s basketball and men’s lacrosse in recent years but those requests went for naught because the teams failed to qualify for the tournament.
In recent years, the NCAA appeared to lax its hosting restriction at least when it came to permitting major-level New Jersey teams to host early-round tournament games or regional events.
Case in point: both the Rutgers men’s and women’s soccer teams have hosted early-round NCAA Tournament games in recent seasons — the Scarlet Knights women’s soccer team knocked off La Salle in a first-round game last November — and the school hosted the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships on its Piscataway campus last March.
Seton Hall has not had any athletics programs in recent years that have been in position to potentially host NCAA championship events, a spokesman said.
As for future efforts to lure in NCAA events, Kean University is scheduled to host the Division III men’s volleyball championships on its Union campus in April 2019. School officials submitted their bid last year, but athletics director Jack McKiernan said there was concern that the event could get pulled at some point if the NCAA stuck by its policy.
As improbable as that may sound considering the NCAA rubber-stamped Kean’s proposal, consider the college athletics governing body relocated the NCAA Division II and III Women’s Lacrosse Championships in 2013 after Montclair State’s winning bid.
“We always knew in the back of our minds the NCAA had that policy and New Jersey had been actively trying to overturn the federal law that prohibited the state from operating single-game sports wagering,” McKiernan said. “So obviously the ‘what if’ was a concern, but we couldn’t live in a world of ‘what ifs’ so it was something we wanted to host, we were excited we were selected, and we had our fingers crossed that Monday’s decision was not going to affect the 2019 (volleyball) championship. We’re really excited that the NCAA released that (statement) today and took this cloud of doubt off our heads.”
Like Kean, Montclair State is set to host the NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship in 2020.
“This ruling takes away the concerns and uncertainty,” Gera said. “It’s a privilege to host NCAA Championship events and we look forward to continue doing so in the future.”
Meanwhile, the NCAA joined the NBA and NFL in calling for federal regulation of sports betting. The Supreme Court’s decision made it clear Congress still reserves regulatory power over the industry, and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has said he plans to propose such legislation.
“Our highest priorities in any conversation about sports wagering are maintaining the integrity of competition and student-athlete well-being,” NCAA president Mark Emmert said in a release. “Sports wagering can adversely impact student-athletes and undermine the games they play. We are committed to ensuring that laws and regulations promote a safe and fair environment for the nearly half a million students who play college athletics.
“While we recognize the critical role of state governments, strong federal standards are necessary to safeguard the integrity of college sports and the athletes who play these games at all levels.”
The NCAA’s bylaws prohibiting sports gambling among athletes and member school athletics employees, including coaches, have not changed, according to the organization. However, the NCAA is allowing for potential rule changes to “reconsider appropriate consequences for those who legally bet on sports.”
Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.
James Kratch may be reached at jkratch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JamesKratch. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.