[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 575 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 575

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the National 
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) should affirm its commitment to 
a policy of discouraging alcohol use among underage students by ending 
   all alcohol advertising during radio and television broadcasts of 
                      collegiate sporting events.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 24, 2004

 Mr. Osborne (for himself, Mr. Wolf, and Ms. Roybal-Allard) submitted 
   the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                      Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the National 
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) should affirm its commitment to 
a policy of discouraging alcohol use among underage students by ending 
   all alcohol advertising during radio and television broadcasts of 
                      collegiate sporting events.

Whereas college and university presidents have cited alcohol consumption as the 
        number one health problem on college and university campuses;
Whereas, according to a study on alcohol by the Harvard School of Public Health, 
        the proportion of college students who say they drink ``to get drunk'' 
        climbed from 40 percent in 1993, to 48 percent in 2001;
Whereas, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2 
        of 5 college students are binge drinkers; 1,400 college students die 
        each year from alcohol-related injuries, including motor vehicle 
        crashes; more than 70,000 students are victims of alcohol-related sexual 
        assault or date rape; and 500,000 students are injured under the 
        influence of alcohol each year;
Whereas at least 50 percent of college student sexual assault cases involve 
        alcohol abuse, and 62 percent of men involved in such assaults, 
        including rape, blame alcohol for their actions;
Whereas the financial costs of alcohol-related harms to institutions of higher 
        education are significant, and include damage to campus property, lost 
        tuition from students who drop out or become academically ineligible to 
        attend, college personnel who address alcohol-related issues, college 
        counseling centers, security staff, and administrative hearings on 
        academic and disciplinary cases, and legal costs of suits against 
        colleges for liability;
Whereas research has found that college students who were sports fans were more 
        likely to engage in binge drinking behavior, including extreme drinking 
        habits and participation in drink price specials and beer-company 
        promotions;
Whereas National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) by-laws specifically 
        state that advertising policies of the association are designed to 
        exclude those advertisements that do not appear to be in the best 
        interest of higher education;
Whereas alcohol advertisements aired during televised NCAA championship games 
        appeared twice as often, on average, than during other sports programs, 
        and 16 times as often on average than during all television programs;
Whereas, according to the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, in 2002, 
        alcohol producers spent a total of $58,000,000 to place 6,251 
        commercials in college sports programs, and spent $27,000,000 
        advertising during the NCAA men's basketball tournament, which had as 
        many alcohol ads (939) as the Super Bowl, World Series, College Bowl 
        Games and the National Football League's Monday Night Football 
        broadcasts combined (925);
Whereas, according to a 2003 survey by the Global Strategy Group, 72 percent of 
        Americans say that showing alcohol commercials during televised sporting 
        events is inconsistent with the positive role sports play in children's 
        lives, and 69 percent believe that airing such commercials is 
        inconsistent with the mission of colleges and universities;
Whereas, according to the same survey, 71 percent of adults support a ban on all 
        alcohol advertisements on televised college games, and strong majorities 
        of both parents (77 percent) and adults (73 percent) say it is wrong for 
        colleges and universities to take money from beer companies that promote 
        student drinking while discouraging underage and binge drinking among 
        their students;
Whereas a report by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of 
        Sciences states that 72 percent of colleges and universities prohibit 
        on-campus alcohol advertising, and 62 percent prohibit industry 
        sponsorship of athletic events;
Whereas that report also recommended that colleges and universities ban alcohol 
        advertising and promotion on campus in order to demonstrate their 
        commitment to discouraging alcohol use among underage students; and
Whereas the removal of alcohol advertisements from college sports broadcasts 
        would not entirely eliminate underage or harmful student drinking, but 
        would stop those broadcasts from contributing to an environment that 
        glamorizes and promotes the connection between alcohol and sports: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), its member 
colleges and universities, and athletic conferences should affirm a 
commitment to a policy of discouraging alcohol use among underage 
students and other young fans by ending all alcohol advertising during 
radio and television broadcasts of collegiate sporting events.
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