The NCAA’s campaign to “draw the line” against gamblers harassing student-athletes

Abstract

College student-athletes have increasingly become targets of abusive messages from fans who lost money gambling on their games. The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) concern about student-athlete mental health and well-being led it to launch the “Draw the Line” campaign in 2024 to address harassment stemming from sports gambling. This article evaluates the NCAA’s Draw the Line campaign through public health communication and agenda-setting theoretical frameworks. Public health communication campaigns must address the audience resistance barriers to behavior change, specifically the applicability to self and the efficacy of treatment recommendations. Agenda-setting addresses each of these audience resistance barriers through issue exposure and the facts emphasized in the messaging influencing public salience. The NCAA hopes that greater awareness and the proper information about sports gambling and abusive messages being sent to student-athletes will curtail this harassment behavior.