Sports betting has increasingly strengthened its foothold in college sports by striking partnerships with schools, bowl games, and even athletes.
Now, there’s yet another new avenue for the industry: purchasing player data.
The NCAA has decided that it is not a violation of policy for conferences and schools to sell player data to sports betting operators, according to Sportico.
- The memo was reportedly spawned by a request for clarity from the Mid-American Conference, which announced a partnership in March to sell data to Genius Sports — a company that often sells data to sportsbooks.
- The Pac-12 also signed a data partnership but did not initially plan to sell to sportsbooks.
- The one caveat: Data can be sold only if the public can also have access.
In the pros, selling data to sportsbooks is extremely lucrative — the NBA and NFL have reportedly earned more than $100 million each for similar transactions.
More Betting Partnerships
Companies in the sports betting space appear eager to jump into the world of NCAA.
Since 2020, several athletic departments, from LSU to the University of Denver, signed sponsorship deals with sports betting operators. MaximBet offered name, image, and likeness deals to athletes in Colorado.