the BigAmateurism monologues

In September, the NCAA declared Virginia Tech football player Alan Tisdale ineligible for most of the football season. Tisdale’s crime? He placed a series of bets on NBA games through FanDuel’s popular sports betting app. The bets totaled $400; most were only a dollar or two. Tisdale is over 21 and placed the bets in Virginia, which legalized sports gambling. While watching a preseason PowerPoint presentation on NCAA rules, Tisdale saw a slide on impermissible betting that used the FanDuel logo. Unaware that his bets may violate NCAA rules, Tisdale told his head coach that he had placed bets on NBA games through FanDuel. The head coach alerted compliance and Virginia Tech self-reported Tisdale’s betting to the NCAA. Neither the head coach nor the compliance director viewed Tisdale’s wagering as a big deal, yet fully complied with NCAA self-reporting protocols. The NCAA responded by declaring Tisdale ineligible under the NCAA’s “zero tolerance” policy on betting. Virginia Tech appealed the NCAA’s decision, and the NCAA restored Tisdale’s eligibility after the season was halfway over. This episode addresses the profound hypocrisy of the NCAA’s decision. While the NCAA punishes athletes like Tisdale for innocuous betting, it is in bed with the sports gambling industry. Since 2018, when states could enter the sports gambling space, the NCAA and P5 have been engaged in a sophisticated stealth campaign to normalize college sports betting so they can capitalize on the growing multi-billion-dollar college sports gambling industry.