NCAA joins Bad Actor Program to protect athletes from abuse

• NCAA joins Bad Actor Program to protect athletes from abuse
• The program is meant to identify instances of abuse and identify those responsible
• NCAA, private integrity companies and sportsbooks are now on the offensive

The NCAA has announced that it is joining the Bad Actor Program, an initiative that is dedicated to protecting student-athletes who experience an increasing amount of abuse online due to irate gamblers who vent their frustration and resort to threats of violence and worse.

NCAA steps up efforts to shield athletes and staff from abuse

The program will also help NCAA protect staffers, such as coaches and officials, who often find themselves on the receiving end of such abuse, but are seldom addressed in programs meant to protect players.

The NCAA hopes that the program will allow it to track abusive behavior and also take the appropriate action by notifying various stakeholders and law enforcement, with a focus on identifying the individual responsible for the abuse.

"Combines social media monitoring and investigative capabilities to identify individuals responsible for abusive online behavior and provide participating organizations with information that can support accountability measures, including banning individuals from participating betting platforms," a statement by the NCAA reads, elaborating on the Bad Actor Program.

NCAA President Charlie Baker has similarly stated that there is no place for harassment in college sports and that the association was taking all necessary steps to ensure that this trend is curbed, and that those responsible face consequences for their actions and words.

NCAA athletes are exposed to a torrent of online vitriol which ranges from the mildly impolite to the outright threatening, with 80% of all verified abuse happening during one of the largest college sports events, March Madness, and recipients in the games on the receiving end of the abuse.

NCAA determined to take out abuse parties of the equation

The NCAA has already been working with other companies that are committed to minimizing harm and tracking those responsible for it, such as Signify and Integrity Compliance 360, with the association committed to maintaining its existing partnerships.

The Bad Actor Program, established by IC360 and Signify, also features Fanatics Sportsas the first sportsbook to partner with the program to ensure that abusive parties are also brought to justice.

The association has already conducted reports, with its first online abuse study identifying 5,000 verified abusive, discriminatory, or threatening social media posts directed at championship participants.

According to the NCAA, sports betting is directly linked to 12% of all verified cases of abuse, with the number rising to 19% in men’s basketball. Another worrying trend is that women’s basketball student-athletes actually receive three times the threats that men’s basketball student-athletes do.

NCAA has also been looking to strengthen the integrity of the sport by appealing to prediction markets to stop offering markets on college-level competitions, and has also enhancedtransparency and visibility of player status ahead of games to try and end the potential for manipulation.

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