NCAA To Engage in ‘Bad Actor Program’ To Decrease Harassing Behavior

• The NCAA today announced its participation in the “Bad Actor Program”
• The program aims to identify and address abusive, threatening, and harassing behavior directed at athletes, coaches, and officials
• Fan behavior is monitored through social media and other online platforms

The NCAA is hoping to actively decrease harassing behavior directed at athletes, coaches, and officials through its participation in the “Bad Actor Program.”

The NCAA will be the first sport governing body to publicly announce its participation in the program. Established by IC360 and Signify Group, the “Bad Actor Program” combines social media monitoring and investigative capabilities to help organizations identify individuals responsible for abusive online behavior.

“Athlete harassment has no place in college sports,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a press release. “The NCAA is committed to working with stakeholders across the sports betting ecosystem to eradicate this horrific behavior that plagues sports far too often, and that is why the NCAA is the first sport governing body to participate in the Bad Actor Program. The NCAA has led efforts to better understand and address online harassment, and we are proud to support new tools that increase accountability for those who target student-athletes, coaches and officials.”

New Identification Program for Harassment

The program is designed to provide participating organizations with information to support accountability measures for the bad actors, including banning individuals from participating sports betting platforms.

Fanatics Sportsbook is the first sportsbook to partner with the program. Individuals identified by the program face potential banishment from the sports betting platform.

The NCAA will also collaborate with Venmo to identify and disrupt betting-related threats and harassment directed at student-athletes on the platform. This will include a dedicated hotline for student-athletes to report violations, student-athlete safety best practices guide, account support, and broader user education.

The NCAA will participate in the program to “aggressively pursue and report identified abusers as part of monitoring across NCAA championships.”

Sports Betting Has Driven Bad Behavior

According to NCAA data released in 2024, sports betting was directly linked to 12% of all verified abuse, a figure that increased to 19% in men’s basketball. One student-athlete received more than 1,400 abusive messages in less than two weeks. Additionally, 80% of all verified abuse identified in the study was directed at March Madness participants.

The NCAA’s 2025 GOALS study separately found that 51% of Division I men’s basketball student-athletes reported receiving social media abuse tied to their athletics performance, while 46% reported receiving negative or threatening messages from someone who had place a wager on their game.

“Online harassment monitoring and student-athlete surveys have provided crucial data on the volume, nature and sources of online abuse — particularly harassment tied to sports betting activity — and have supported reporting and enforcement actions when threatening conduct has been identified,” Clint Hangebrauck, NCAA managing director of enterprise risk management, said in a release. “The Association will continue its work with Signify and other stakeholders to monitor online harassment across NCAA Championships, and we look forward to leveraging the Bad Actor Program to strengthen accountability and further protect college sports from threats and abuse.”