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NCAA and Venmo establish partnership to fight against harassment of college athletes

Sports Writer

Publish Date: Aug 29, 2025

Fact checked by: Sara Jane Gamelli

Key Points

Venmo and NCAA partner to provide resources against harassment of college athletes
Educational resources and heightened surveillance will be provided by Venmo
Hotline will be established to specifically address issues of athlete harassment from gamblers

In recent years the National Collegiate Athletic Association has faced monumental challenges that threaten its role in sports. But, the NCAA entered an agreement this week that illustrates how it can still have a vital role in college athletics.

In a new initiative designed to shield college athletes from digital harassment, the NCAA has forged a collaboration with the online payment service Venmo.

Venmo and NCAA collaboration

The partnership directly addresses the growing problem of student-athletes receiving hostile payment demands from disgruntled gamblers and solicitations for confidential team information.

This joint effort will provide a specialized reporting channel for athletes to flag abuse, educational resources focused on account security, and heightened surveillance from Venmo.

The platform's security division will proactively monitor social trends and pivotal in-game moments, like a last-second missed field goal, which have been known to trigger a wave of unwanted interactions.

The reporting hotline for athletes is already operational

This move is supported by NCAA research indicating that nearly one-fifth of the online abuse aimed at college football and basketball players stems from sports betting. An NCAA official confirmed that on Venmo, this harassment typically appears as payment requests from bettors who lost wagers related to a specific athlete's performance.

"We have heard of solicitation of insider information as well," noted Clint Hangebrauck, the NCAA's managing director of enterprise risk management, describing it as a serious issue for the integrity of the sport.

He cited examples of users offering athletes money in exchange for tips on their playing status

David Szuchman, a senior vice president at Venmo's parent company, PayPal, stressed that while such unwanted requests are not widespread, they are "unacceptable."

He believes student-athletes form a unique category of users who merit an elevated level of protection. Szuchman, who leads the company's financial crime and customer protection unit, affirmed that abuse is not tolerated and that the company is federally mandated to report any detected illicit activity to law enforcement.

The challenge, Hangebrauck explained, is balancing safety with normalcy

Student-athletes want to use the platform for everyday social transactions, like splitting the cost of pizza or a movie ticket, just like their peers.

"This is a really unique and interesting population," he said, highlighting the goal of allowing them to feel like any other college kid while providing enhanced safety measures.

Hangebrauck hopes this novel partnership will serve as a framework for engaging other social media companies on the critical issue of athlete harassment.

Venmo is owned by PayPal Holdings, the parent company of PayPal, one of the world's most popular online payment gateways. The NCAA has been stripped of much of its power by the power conferences in recent years.

Many of the authoritative duties the organization held previously have been watered down. The NCAA also holds less sway over the popular NCAA basketball tournaments, and the College Football Playoff, which take in the bulk of revenue from college athletic acitivity.

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