Since 2005, 357 institutions of higher education — including Arizona State, Ohio State, Texas Tech, and the Universities of Florida, Minnesota, and Nebraska — and 16 athletic conferences have endorsed the Campaign for Alcohol-Free Sports TV’s “College Commitment” pledge to work toward eliminating beer advertising during televised college sports. 

That pledge essentially asks that the NCAA live up to the intent of its own policies on advertising.  The NCAA’s advertising and promotional standards on their face plainly “exclude those advertisements and advertisers...that do not appear to be in the best interests of higher education and student-athletes.”  NCAA advertising rules specifically prohibit ads for cigarettes, other tobacco products, organizations promoting gambling, and alcoholic beverages, yet they permit ads for beverages with alcohol content of 6% or less (beer)!

Please take a moment to send a quick message to NCAA President Myles Brand urging the Association to take a leadership role to remove all alcohol advertising from televised NCAA sporting contests.  This action would support college administrators’ efforts to help reduce alcohol-related problems, send a consistent message to college students and other young people about the impact of underage and excessive drinking on their health and well-being, and conform to general NCAA advertising policies.

The NCAA Executive Committee and Division I Board of Directors meetings will be held on August 7, 2008.  Therefore, please send the letter by August 4, 2008. Thank you in advance for helping convey a strong message that the NCAA should reject beer ads in college sports telecasts.  Also, please help by passing this alert along to family, friends, and colleagues.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am writing to respectfully ask that the NCAA Executive Committee and Division I Board of Directors reconsider the Association's alcohol advertising policy at their upcoming meetings.

The NCAA's advertising and promotional standards plainly "exclude those advertisements and advertisers...that do not appear to be in the best interests of higher education and student-athletes." Ironically, NCAA advertising rules prohibit ads for cigarettes, other tobacco products, organizations promoting gambling, and alcoholic beverages, yet they permit ads for beverages with alcohol content of 6% or less (beer)! Eliminating beer advertising from NCAA sports telecasts would be consistent with the best interests of student athletes, young sports fans, and would support college administrators' efforts to reduce alcohol-related problems across the nation.

Drinking threatens college student health and safety, and the costs of student drinking plague campuses nationwide. Underage drinking, excessive consumption, and alcohol problems often convene prominently in college sports - mostly in the form of beer. Recent evidence has more closely linked teens' exposure to alcohol advertising with more frequent and heavier drinking. Beer ads aired during college sporting events contradict the missions of higher education and college sports and undermine campus prevention efforts.

The NCAA should take a leadership role to remove all alcohol advertising from televised college sporting contests. This action, which could be phased in over a few years to avoid economic hardship, would help send a consistent message to young people about the seriousness of underage and excessive drinking and would restore the credibility of the NCAA as an organization that puts the interests of student athletes over those of beer marketers. It is high time for the NCAA to live up to the true values of higher education and sports.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
July 24, 2008