NCAA: Single game bets mean no playoffs at Delaware schools

Delaware schools can forget about home field advantage in the NCAA playoffs, if the State of Delaware goes through with its plans to launch single game sports betting.

Delaware schools can forget about home field advantage in the NCAA playoffs, if the State of Delaware goes through with its plans to launch single game sports betting.

The NCAA’s Executive Committee voted Thursday not to allow any NCAA postseason competition in states with single game betting on any sport (high school, college or pro) that the NCAA conducts a championship.

The new policy does not apply if a state offers parlay bets, lottery tickets, or sports pools/pull tabs.

In July, the NCAA’s Championships Cabinet approved a plan that would have allowed Delaware schools to host playoff games, regardless of the State’s sports betting plans, if they earned that right by their play on the field.

But the Executive Committee passed on that proposal, saying it approved the new policy “to ensure the integrity of the game, to provide consistency in awarding NCAA championships and to address student-athlete well-being concerns.”

The NCAA decision comes one day after a U.S District Court judge in Delaware rejected a request from the NCAA and four professional sports leagues for a preliminary injunction to stop Delaware from instituting single game sports betting until a lawsuit brought by the NCAA and the pro leagues is settled.

Delaware plans to begin sports betting at its three racinos (Delaware Park, Dover Downs , and Harrington Raceway) in September to coincide with the start of the NFL and college football seasons, though no bets on Delaware schools will be allowed.

The teams hit hardest by he NCAA ruling are the University of Delaware and Wesley College football teams.  UD has hosted 22 football playoff games all-time, 14 since 1991,  Wesley College has welcomed 5 NCAA Division III postseason games to its Dover campus in the last four years.