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Report: The NCAA has spent $240,000 on lobbying in 2014

Mark Emmert

NCAA President Mark Emmert answers a question at a news conference Sunday, April 6, 2014, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

David J. Phillip

In the past six months, the NCAA has spent more money on lobbying than it has ever before. This coming from Lalita Clozel of OpenSecrets.org, a research group tracking money in U.S. politics and lobbying data, which posted their findings on Tuesday.

From the start of 2014 to June 30, the NCAA had spent $240,000 in lobbying efforts, more than $80,000 it spent during all of 2013. In March, the Chicago regional office of the the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in favor of Northwestern football players, declaring them as employees. That decision resulted in the NCAA hiring outside lobbyists for the first time since 1998, according to OpenSecrets.org. That is when the spending really began.

Over the first half of 2014, the NCAA already broke its record of yearly lobbying expenditures. During 2013, the NCAA spent $160,000 on lobbying. This year, as of June 30, it has already spent $240,000. That includes $180,000 just in the second quarter, which covers April to June. A new topic appears on every lobbying disclosure filed after March 2014: the “welfare” or “well-being” of student athletes.

This report comes on the heels of a difficult week for the NCAA. On Thursday, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors allowed a certain level of autonomy to the Power 5 conferences. The following day, a federal judge ruled that the NCAA violated antitrust laws by prohibiting student-athletes from being compensating for the use of their name, image or likeness. The group of plaintiffs was led by former UCLA forward Ed O’Bannon.

On Sunday, the NCAA announced that it would appeal the O’Bannon ruling.

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