Five Richmond baseball players who have been ruled ineligible by the NCAA were involved in fantasy football, leading to their suspensions to start the season, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch report.
The university announced Feb. 17 that five student-athletes on the baseball team had committed secondary violations and would be ineligible for competition until the NCAA completes the reinstatement process.
The Times-Dispatch, citing multiple unnamed sources, later reported that the secondary violations were related to the players’ participation in fantasy football.
The university, per athletic department policy, declined to offer further comment when reached by ESPN on Tuesday and has not identified the players involved.
The NCAA considers fantasy sports contests with an entry fee to be a form of sports wagering and therefore off-limits to student-athletes, regardless of sport.
ESPN has reached out to the NCAA and Atlantic-10 Conference for comment.
Fantasy sports are explicitly legal in Virginia and regulated by the state’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
The Spiders are 3-4 on the season. Their Tuesday game against James Madison was rescheduled because of inclement weather.
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