GAMBLING -- Senae committee marks up Amateur Sports Integrity Act

The Senate Commerce Committee has marked up S. 2340, the Amateur Sports Integrity Act, clearing the measure for Senate floor consideration.

The committee considered nine amendments to the bill but only two were adopted. One would prohibit individuals, amateur sports groups and their corporate sponsors from offering contests that give prizes that are in any way connected to the games they sponsor. The other would require colleges and universities to report instances in which students violate existing gambling laws on campus (including Internet gambling) as part of the campus crime reporting that is already required by federal law. It also would require establishment of campus policies related to illegal gambling.

Sens. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, are preparing to offer S. 2340 as an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act when the legislation is considered by the Senate during early May.

Staff contact: Doris Dixon.

GOVERNANCE -- Division I Board takes action to strengthen basketball package

The Division I Board of Directors has approved a package of basketball proposals previously recommended by the Division I Management Council and also has taken steps to further address academic reform in the sport.

The Board approved a package of eight proposals that include allowing schools to provide financial aid during the summer term for entering basketball student-athletes, restricting the number of initial scholarships schools can award annually and dramatically revising the summer recruiting calendar.

The Board also recommended that the Council revisit academic-reform proposals that had not been supported by the Council. Among those proposals is an incentive-based financial aid model that ties scholarships to individual schools' graduation rates in basketball.

Staff contact: David Berst.

LITIGATION -- Cureton plaintiffs denied in effort to amend complaint

A federal judge has ruled that the plaintiffs in Cureton v. NCAA, a major case involving NCAA initial-eligibility rules, may not amend their complaint against the Association to claim that NCAA legislation intentionally discriminates.

Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter originally ruled for the plaintiffs in the case, but a federal appeals court overturned the ruling in December.

Buckwalter ruled that the plaintiffs had waited too long (about three years) to file an amended complaint under Title VI for intentional discrimination. In fact, Buckwalter noted that the plaintiffs had claimed earlier in the proceedings that NCAA initial-eligibility legislation has a "laudable goal."

"I can only conclude that it is a last-gasp measure to have a second bite of the proverbial apple," Buckwalter wrote in a discussion of the plaintiffs' effort to amend the complaint. "Unfortunately, the apple was consumed in their original complaint and the extensive proceedings that brought us to this point."

The plaintiffs now have until June 23 to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. They also have filed a motion for reconsideration with Buckwalter. <

Staff contact: Elsa Cole.