New Restrictive NCAA Basketball Regulations Raise Concerns

NCAA Adds Further Restrictions To Contacting Basketball Recruits

YOUTH BALL: With the recent announcement that the NBA and NCAA are  collaborating to reorganize youth basketball, there is "fear in the youth basketball community that exposure events as a whole might fall by the wayside." The five-year initiative under which both parties will contribute $15M "with an additional $20[M] coming through joint marketing ventures," is intended to "lift the youth basketball scene by targeting it at a grassroots level.'' Lawlor noted it is likely the NCAA and media partner CBS will "leverage new media entities, CBS College TV Network and high school sports Web site Maxpreps.com, to attract young consumers."

A NAYSAYER: Former Reebok Dir of Grassroots Basketball Sonny Vaccaro, who also has worked with adidas and Nike, "thinks the NBA and the NCAA have overstepped their bounds." Vaccaro: "It won't work. (The NBA and the NCAA) are not compatible. You can't speak for the thousands of youth players who you have no jurisdiction over." Vaccaro added: "The NCAA just wants to fill their coffers, and now they want to regulate kids who are 14 or 17 years old and don't even play for their teams" (ESPN.com 5/1).

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