Rut row...

Wanna bet nothing happens?

Duke contacts NCAA about rule

HOOPHALL CLASSIC
Duke contacts NCAA about rule
Group's sponsorship of high school tournament could be a violation

KEN TYSIAC
[email protected]

Duke athletics officials are talking with the NCAA over whether Duke Sports Medicine's sponsorship of a high school basketball tournament violates an NCAA rule.

NCAA bylaw 13.15.1.2 states that "an institution may not provide funding, directly or through paid advertisements, to benefit a high school athletics program."

Duke Sports Medicine purchased a $10,000 sponsorship for the HoopHall Classic, which will feature three high school games Tuesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Jennifer Kearns, NCAA associate director of public affairs and media relations, confirmed that Duke contacted the NCAA and that discussions are taking place.

Chris Kennedy, Duke senior associate athletics director, said Duke and the NCAA are discussing how the word "institution" should be applied in the bylaw.

"Is every office, extension of Duke University covered by that?" Kennedy asked. "That's what we're trying to figure out. We don't think so."

Duke Sports Medicine is part of the Duke University Medical Center.

Kennedy said the operations of the medical center and university are separate until "somewhere way up on top of the organizational chart."

Dr. Victor Dzau, president and CEO of the Duke Health System, reports to university president Richard Brodhead. The university and health system are separate legal and corporate entities, but the university's board of trustees appoints the health system's board of directors.

Kennedy said a liberal interpretation of the word "institution" in the bylaw could mean Duke's NCAA compliance staff would have to monitor the medical center's various clinics, adjunct faculty who teach in foreign countries and Duke's international business programs.

Kennedy said he wasn't aware of the HoopHall sponsorship until an Observer reporter asked him whether it might run contrary to NCAA rules.

Duke Sports Medicine's offices are in the Finch-Yeager Building, which also holds the football press box at Wallace Wade Stadium, which is adjacent to Cameron.

The clinic houses the Michael Krzyzewski Human Performance Lab, named after Duke's basketball coach. Duke's basketball media guide has an entire page devoted to sports medicine and explains that Duke athletes have access to top doctors, all of whom are affiliated with the Duke Sports Medicine Center.

Krzyzewski does radio advertisements for Duke Sports Medicine, and Dukehealth.org is advertised on the backdrop for Krzyzewski's postgame news conferences.

Bruce Kennedy, director of marketing for Duke University Medical Center, said the HoopHall Classic sponsorship for Duke Sports Medicine was placed with Raleigh radio station WRBZ-AM 850, another sponsor of the event. Along with sports radio partner WDNC-AM 620 of Durham, WRBZ broadcasts Duke football and men's basketball games, which Duke Sports Medicine sponsors.

For $10,000, Duke Sports Medicine received on-air mentions and ads on the back of tickets and in the game program for the HoopHall Classic. Chris Kennedy said Thursday that the radio ads have been changed, but the programs already have been printed. Bruce Kennedy said the medical center marketing staff didn't imagine the sponsorship might violate NCAA rules.

"No one was thinking in that direction at all," he said, "and I think that we assumed from the Duke Medicine perspective that we're a health system and we made the purchase for the hospital, to promote the hospital exclusively."

Shane Lyons, ACC associate commissioner for compliance, said that even if it's determined that Duke Sports Medicine shouldn't have placed the ad, this would not be a serious or major violation.

"There's so many things out there that they have to deal with in rules and regulations that things sometimes fall through the cracks," Lyons said.

 

Let's keep also Duke Power from sponsoring anything just to be safe

 

I bet the NCAA has looked into that.

 

Duke - the university of rapists and cheaters.

 

Duke could not have gotten a gift last night because Roy wasn't in the building

 

Who graduated from Kansas?