NCAA Grabs More Control of Ticket Resales

The NCAA is stepping up its efforts to rake in more money from March Madness by striking deals with online sites that resell tickets and travel packages at hefty profits, the Los Angeles Times reports. By sanctioning such deals, the NCAA says it can guard against unscrupulous gouging, but critics say the nonprofit overseer of college sports is running its business just like the pros.

"The NCAA says it adheres strongly to its amateur ideal, but it seems to be operating precisely, exactly the same way that the major professional sports enterprises are," said one expert. Just about every aspect of March Madness has turned into a cash cow for the NCAA—from TV revenue to its tightly regulated ticket lottery—a fact not reflected in the relatively modest face value of tickets. (More NCAA stories.)