An important part of the NCAA’s mission is to “maintain a clear line of demarcation between intercollegiate athletics and professional sports.” There was a time not long ago when some complained about those omnipresent Nike logos emblazoned on college players. Of course, giant logos never hurt anyone…at least not until the NCAA started putting huge NCAA logo decals right smack in the middle of March Madness. Last year, North Carolina Coach Roy Williams was incensed after several of his players—including Tyler Hansbrough and Marcus Ginyard—slipped on the NCAA decals. "Let’s stop putting those stupid logos on the floor where kids slip and slide around…somebody is going to get hurt,” Williams said, “and I’ve said that for years and years and years.” He added, it's a "a lawsuit waiting to happen."
This year the NCAA will use painted on logos (as opposed to decals) at nine of the 13 NCAA Tournament venues, up from five last year. Roy Williams credited the NCAA for “doing what’s best for the safety of the student-athletes.” Still, 31% of this year’s venues will sport those “dad-gum” (to quote Williams) decals. No one should declare “Mission Accomplished” until these decals are completely banned. My advice to players whose teams are in the unlucky 31%: Refuse to step on the court until they are removed. Wishful thinking, I suppose, but on the other hand, the next torn ACL could be your own.
The NCAA's defense, according to Sports Business Daily: Greg Shaheen wrote in an e-mail that the logo decals were put in place for early-round games “to create as neutral a site as possible.” Shaheen wrote, “With the current large court logos that many teams are going to, covering the host logo is a more complicated process. In fact, the NCAA logo of that size has nothing to do with branding. Rather, it is to cover the host logo.” So there you have it. It has nothing to do with branding. Others disagree, including officials at the Greensboro Coliseum and David Zirin, who thinks the NCAA is all about the brand.