Rules against celebratory compensation in the ncaa

Question

I was listening to the radio, this morning, and heard that the Rick Pitino, the head coach of Louisville, wanted to bring his team to New Orleans. He wanted the whole team to support the Louisville's women's basketball team.

Jay Bilas had mentioned that NCAA rules prohibit them from supporting their team. The reason or intent of this would to circumvent universities or colleges for providing players compensatory benefits for winning a championship.

Is there an official rule that states that this is indeed true? If so, where does it specifically say so?

Answer 1

Per NCAA 16.11.1.1 General Rule:

Receipt of a benefit (including otherwise prohibited extra benefits per Bylaw 16.11.2) by student-athletes, their relatives or friends is not a violation of NCAA rules if it is demonstrated that the same benefit is generally available to the institution’s students and their relatives or friends. (emphasis added)

Because attending game would include travel, lodging, tickets, etc. that weren't readily available to the general students, it became a violation.

Players' travel, lodging, food, etc. can be provided by the school if it directly correlates with the athletic event the team is participating in. Since the team wasn't participating, benefits couldn't be provided.

As an FYI, given the circumstances the NCAA did grant an exception to this that would've allowed U of Louisville to pay for the team's expenses to travel to this event. However, the team had already made arrangements to travel home.