The five power conferences in college football have sent letters to DraftKings and FanDuel, asking them to discontinue daily fantasy sports based on college games, according to reports on social media.
What we know about the letter
The information trickled out over Twitter, after Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott spoke with the media at halftime of the college football game between USC and Stanford. Fox Sports writer Stewart Mandel broke the news:
Speaking at halftime, Larry Scott says the Power 5 commissioners have sent letters to FanDuel and DraftKings asking to stop college games.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 20, 2015
Scott also says the conference network will not air any daily fantasy ads. — Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 20, 2015
Scott was speaking on behalf of his conference, along with the SEC, the Big Ten, the Big 12 and the ACC. Later, however, Scott seemed to back off on not airing ads on the Pac-12 Network:
Pac-12 clarifies that it is accepting ads from DraftKings & FanDuel during its game broadcasts, as long as it doesn’t promote college game — Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 22, 2015
The text of the letter is not yet published online, nor does it appear that it will be.
A spokesperson from the Southeastern Conference confirmed the content of the letter with Legal Sports Report, but said the text was not available. “I can confirm Commissioner [Greg] Sankey signed the letter referenced by Commissioner Scott along with the other commissioners,” the spokesperson said.
The letter and Scott’s statement came soon after Big 12 Conference Commissioner Bob Bowlsby referred to DFS as gambling. It’s also of note that DraftKings and FanDuel are not the only sites offering fantasy football based on college games; several second-tier sites do as well.
Legal Sports Report reached out to both FanDuel and DraftKings late Saturday night, to see if either site had an official response. Neither had an official comment, so far.
Does this mean anything?
In reality, it seems like the letters will likely not result in any changes. Scott apparently admitted as much in his comments:
Scott said the Pac-12 wrote a letter to FanDuel and DraftKings to ask them to stop utilizing college game. But does he expect response? “No” — Ryan Kartje (@Ryan_Kartje) September 20, 2015
Larry Scott told me that college daily fantasy has only been on his radar for 4-6 wks, but the Pac-12 has taken it VERY seriously since. — Ryan Kartje (@Ryan_Kartje) September 20, 2015
If either DraftKings or FanDuel wanted to generate a little bit of good will heading into a possible Congressional hearing, they could certainly consider stopping their college fantasy contests.
But DraftKings and FanDuel have remained steadfast in saying that daily fantasy sports is not gambling — and that appears to be the main cause of concern for the conferences. That means the DFS sites are unlikely to give in to the conferences’ wishes.
Colleges seem to be in a bit of a full-court press against the industry of late, as an NCAA representative noted that athletes could risk losing a year of eligibility if they play DFS. This does not appear to be a new policy, but it’s of note that it was brought up in a public forum.
Listening to NCAA’s Oliver Luck speak this morning in Dallas. He reminds that …
— Scott Stricklin (@stricklinMSU) September 22, 2015
… any athlete found to be gambling on college sports (includes daily fantasy such as Draft Kings) automatically loses a year of eligibility.
— Scott Stricklin (@stricklinMSU) September 22, 2015
More here.