Fansided

NCAA bans Draftkings, Fanduel from advertising

By Bryan Arnott

Mar 22, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; General view of the NCAA logo at midcourt of the KeyArena during the game between the Northern Iowa Panthers and Louisville Cardinals in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 22, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; General view of the NCAA logo at midcourt of the KeyArena during the game between the Northern Iowa Panthers and Louisville Cardinals in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Amid internal scandals, the NCAA has told DraftKings and FanDuel that they will not be able to advertise at championship events – including the NCAA tournament.

In a letter sent to both companies, the NCAA informedDraftKings and Fanduel that they would be unable to advertise during NCAA championship events, according to the New York Times.

This includes both the highly publicized men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments. The organization also asked the companies to divulge any information on referees playing on these websites.

DraftKings and FanDuel came under fire recently for their employees involvement in their competitor’s websites. A DraftKings employee won $300,000,000 on FanDuel, prompting allegations of insider trading. An internal investigation conducted for DraftKings concluded that the employee had no access to anything that would have given him an advantage – most notably the percentage in which players were drafted in a tournament.

The two industry giants are in dangerous waters currently. What was once an unregulated industry now has the FBI conducting probes into the legality of it while Congress gears up for a hearing on whether or not to regulate it.

News broke last week that the NFL was trying to lobby members of the House to not launch a hearing on the NFL’s ties with the daily fantasy sports industry. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy later told media that “warding off” wasn’t the correct term to use, but rather they were trying to get across the point that the league and clubs had no equity interest in the companies.

ESPN and other major sports news outlets have started incorporating daily fantasy sports into their programs, such as DraftKings’ picks of the week being aired by analysts before an NFL Sunday. It remains to be seen how all of this legality talk will turn out and how it will effect the industry.

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