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College presidents unhappy with beer ads in NCAA broadcasts
More than 100 college leaders, presidents and athletic directors, have complained to NCAA president Myles Brand that beer advertising during NCAA tournament broadcasts was “embarrassingly prominent.”
They asked the organization, which doesn’t allow beer sales in the arena during a championship event, to reconsider its policies on alcohol advertising. They accuse the organization of violating its own policies that supposedly limit beer advertising to 60 seconds per hour and no more than 120 seconds per telecast.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., which helped organize the letter, said it counted 200 seconds and 240 seconds of beer advertising during the NCAA semifinal games. They counted 270 seconds of beer advertising during Monday night’s final.
“Given the persistent problems caused by underage and excessive college drinking, much of it in the form of beer, we find it inconceivable that the NCAA’s profiting from beer promotion during the telecasts of college basketball games comports with the best interests of higher education, sports, or student welfare,” the letter said.
The NCAA did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment, nor did a spokeswoman for CBS Sports, which broadcast the Final Four.
Among the signatories on the letter were four schools that qualified for this year’s tournament — Baylor, Winthrop, Cornell and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.