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Dear President/Chancellor/Other Title:
As a member of the NCAA’s Executive Committee, you have an important
opportunity to help break the tie between alcohol advertising and
college sports. I urge you to support an end to beer
advertisements on NCAA broadcasts when the Executive Committee meets
this August.
It makes no sense for colleges to battle underage and binge drinking on
their campuses while at the same time undermining those efforts by using
sports events to advertise beer to students and other young fans.
College presidents know better than anyone the damage underage and binge
drinking does to the health and safety of young people. While a
ban on beer ads will not on its own resolve the “culture of alcohol”
that exists for too many college students, such a ban will eliminate the
implied sanction universities give to the beer messages aired during the
broadcast of college games.
I am not alone in my thinking on this issue: there is a strong and
growing national movement. In a short time, 228 schools in the
NCAA – 22% of all the schools in the Association – have committed to
eliminating beer ads on college games. More than 180 national,
state, and local organizations – including the American Medical
Association, the American College Health Association, and the American
Public Health Association – have endorsed the effort to end alcohol ads
on televised sports. College sports greats Dean Smith, Tom Osborne
(now a U.S. Representative from Nebraska), John Wooden, Joe Paterno, Jim
Calhoun, and others have publicly called for an end to alcohol ads on
college sports broadcasts. Rep. Osborne also introduced a
resolution in Congress asking the NCAA and its member institutions
voluntarily to end alcohol ads on college sports broadcasts. A
national survey showed that 72% of adults support a ban on alcohol ads
on college broadcasts.
It is time for the NCAA to take action. I look forward to your
leadership in the effort to eliminate alcohol advertisements on college
sports broadcasts. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Name
Address
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