By Robert J. Romano, JD, LL.M, Associate Professor of Legal Studies at St. John’s University, Senior Writer
On October 10, 2024, the NCAA released the findings of a study it conducted in conjunction with Signify Group and its artificial intelligence service (AI) Threat Matrix that monitored online harassment and cyberbullying of student-athletes, coaches, and officials participating in various NCAA championships and the College Football National Championship during the 2023-24 academic year. The study analyzed 1.3 million posts/comments targeted on the different social media platforms of 3,164 student-athletes, 489 coaches, 197 officials, 165 teams, and 12 NCAA official channels, and flagged 5,020 of these posts for containing abusive, sexual, discriminatory, or violent/threatening content.
Of the flagged posts, approximately 80% were directed at student-athletes participating in the Division I Men’s and Women’s National Basketball Championships, also known as March Madness. During those two championship events, from the Second Round of the tournaments onward, 3,915 abusive or threatening messages were verified, with women’s basketball receiving almost three times more than their male counterparts.
Of the 16 types of abuse the study identified and endured by student-athletes, the most prevalent, 18%, was that of sexual harassment, while 12% was related to sports betting,10% consisted of racism or racial content, 9% was homophobic/transphobic, and 6% was considered that of violent abuse. (NCAA Polit Study 2023-24).
As for the high instances of sexual abuse, although directed at both male and female athletes across various NCAA championships, it was during the National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships where a high percentage of these sexualized messages, almost 92%, encouraged online users to access additional sexual content on other, outside platforms.
Additionally, with the rise of legalized sports betting after the Professional and Amateur Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2018, the cyberbullying promulgated by what now has been termed “the angry sports bettor”, has translated into a different and increasing type of harassment waged towards student-athletes – sports betting and match-fixing abuse. And with 20 of the 38 states that offer sport betting allowing for college “prop bets”, the impact of gambling and its abuse towards college sports and its athletes can only continue.
“When we started doing this work about four or five years ago, we were predominantly dealing with a lot of racist issues,” Signify co-founder and CEO Jonathan Hirshler commented. “It just goes to show that [betting] has moved into a very significant area of the work that we do, in terms of the volume of abuse that’s triggered by angry gamblers, sports betting and match-fixing.”
As part of its study, Signify Group also found that receiving sexist, racist, homophobic/transphobic and sport betting-related harassment can have a direct and immediate impact on the mental health of student-athletes. The study identified one student-athlete who received more than 1,400 abusive messages in less than a two-week period and noted that this form of repeated bullying can be especially detrimental, impacting an athlete both personally and professionally, which can ultimately affect their wellbeing and ability to perform at their best both on the field of play and in the classroom.
Based on the findings of this study, leaders in college sports have begun calling upon fans and social media companies to curb rampant online abuse and bullying with NCAA President Charlie Baker commenting, “I’ve heard too many student-athletes talk about abusive messages they have received, and for the first time ever, we now have evidence of the scale at which this is occurring. It’s incredibly alarming and completely unacceptable. Fans have to do better, social media companies have to do more to identify and remove this content, and we all need reminders about responsible social media usage. Student-athletes come to college hoping to fulfill their athletic and academic dreams, and our job at the NCAA is to provide them with the most fulfilling experience possible. We will exhaust all options to reduce the harassment and vitriol student-athletes are experiencing too often today.”
In addition, the NCAA, as part of its commitment to protecting the safety and well-being of its student-athletes and to thwart the effects of online bullying and harassment, has implemented a series of reforms aimed at delivering increased and expanded mental health support for all of those involved in college sport. This expanded support requires all member institutions with Division I sports programs to provide mental health counseling and services consistent with the NCAA’s Mental Health Best Practices. The NCAA has also increased its e-learning content to educate student-athletes on how to best deal with abusive threats, cyberbullying and harassment, as well as outlining risks associated with sports betting and gambling.
