The NCAA, Of All People, Tells DFS That It's Too Dirty

Thieves Of A Feather

So here's a fun bit of business; the NCAA has banned all sponsorship and advertising activity from DraftKings and FanDuel for its televised sports.

Yes, the people who bring you:

> Unpaid sports with the possibility of lifetime injury

> Punishments for rules infractions that can only be described as byzantine and/or wildly over-the-top

> A creepingly long schedule that puts further wood to the lie fire that is student-athlete

> Coaches that get to move back and forth to schools with impunity, while the kids have to honor their commitments

> Complete and utter service to the professional leagues they fill, because they know in their heart of hearts that if and when the pros declare war and expand into multiple leagues and all regions, the will be in complete peril for their remarkably cozy existence

These peope. These people, who rival only FIFA and the IOC in terms of per capita craptitude, want nothing to do with the DFS sites.

Why? Well, the FBI investigations, the insider trading, the growing drumbeat that Something Must Be Done, and the basic understanding that the only reason the NFL has any tolerance for this is cash, cash, cash. (Along with the compromised ownership situation, what with Jacksonville, New England and others having skin in the game.)

Will the DFS sites comply with the NCAA's request to just be left alone? I can't, for one minute, imagine that they would. There's nothing else going on in March to rival college basketball action. Baseball is in preseason, the NBA and NHL are in the relative dog days of their seasons, and there is no football of any kind. Sure, golf has started, and you'd be amazed how much of that gets action, but DFS sites are, basically, casinos... and you can't expect a casino to shut down tables during hours of operation.

Now, will DFS sites be in any condition to be making bank in March? That is, really, the far more interesting question. With the ads every 90 seconds or less media saturation campaign, they are just not going away. Neither will the public distaste for the sites, because anything advertised this much becomes well and truly hated. They are making themselves too big of a target, and because there are two competitors when there really only needs to be one, the saturation can't stop.

Oh, and one final thing. The NCAA's action will not stop a single DFS player, because, among other things, no one cares what the NCAA says. Unless they are forced to.

Pot, meet kettle!