COLUMBIA — Mizzou Athletics is preparing for an increase in online harassment toward student-athletes when sports betting becomes legal in Missouri in December.
An NCAA study published in June indicated that angry bettors are a common source of harassment toward college athletes.
The study, which examined online abuse and harassment during men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, found that abuse on the men’s side of the 2025 March Madness tournament increased by 140% since the previous year’s study.
Missouri sports betting will launch on Dec. 1 after voters legalized sports betting in November 2024 through the passage of Amendment 2.
The amendment to the Missouri constitution allows bettors to bet on in-state college teams, like the Missouri Tigers, and in-state college games, along with proposition bets on professional athletes and live betting throughout a game.
Missouri residents will no longer have to travel across state lines to place their bets, and the state could see multiple revenue streams.
While the passage of Amendment 2 is an exciting new time for bettors, Mizzou Athletics is preparing itself for a different side of the story.
The athletics department has a program specifically tailored to its student-athletes called Mizzou Made Mental Health.
“They devote 43 hours a week to just their sport, that’s not the tutoring hours they have to do, the volunteer hours they have to do, or just having a life and being a person outside of their sport,” said Brittany Fassbinder, a member of the mental health team.
Fassbinder said it’s important for people to remember that student-athletes have a life and are people outside their sport.
Mizzou men’s basketball players Jacob Crews and Trent Pierce said the comments leave them aggravated and annoyed.
Pierce said he has received negative comments on social media.
“It took me four or five days to get over that,” Pierce said. “I already felt like I had let the team down and then I had other people saying the same thing and the message on Instagram and Twitter just kept adding to me trying to get over myself.”
Because of the negativity, student-athletes like Pierce may change the ways they interact on social media during the season.
“I’ve learned to deal with the comments,” Pierce said. “They’re going to be there, and to be honest, most of the season I’m not on social media because of them. You can’t get rid of the comments.”
Pierce said this is the mindset he has adopted and the one he tries to give others.
“We tell the younger guys now, ‘Turn your comments off and your requests on so you don’t see that stuff,'” Pierce said.
The players describe the team as a family and close-knit group.
Graduate student Jacob Crews said he sometimes falls to the negativity but his support system is always there.
“He (coach Dennis Gates) does a great job with the media and like how he protects us, but he also teaches us how to handle things and acknowledge things and knowledge of how to deal with things as they happen,” Crews said.
After Crews transferred to Mizzou in the spring of 2024, the negativity came quickly.
“When I first came here I fed into it, but I learned to just leave it alone,” Crews said.
Crews said he works to turn that negativity into positivity.
“I don’t feed into all that — I have a great supporting cast with my wife and the coaching staff,” Crews said. “They do a great job with us helping us to understand exactly why and how we lost. It’s not just one play or one person; it’s the whole team. So you know I just trust in the belief.”
Mizzou Made Mental Health works with all athletic teams at the university, working to make players feel comfortable and supported no matter what happens, Fassbinder said.
Pierce said Gates brings in organizations to talk to the men’s basketball team about online harassment to prepare players for being in the spotlight.
“They come in the locker room and let us know and gives us resources and help us learn how to not be impacted by those fan comments,” Pierce said.
Fassbinder said the athletes have taught her so much and that she wants the best for the athletes in their lives. She said negativity will come, especially with sports betting, but she’s ready to support athletes.
“The conference (SEC) has been really helpful in the whole process,” Fassbinder said. “They’ve been aware of this for years.”
Every person involved in Mizzou Athletics, from coaches to dining hall workers, goes through Mental Health First Aid, which is a course that teaches people how to identify and respond to mental illness and substance use disorders. This allows people in the department to handle situations, to a certain extent, when an athlete might not want to go to therapy, Fassbinder said.
Fassbinder said Mizzou Athletics watches for online harassment toward student-athletes.
“Your phone is your brand and your online persona is your brand and it’s a very delicate balance,” Fassbinder said. “They have to post to build their brand, but it’s very hard to post when you’re being targeted on those posts. So, it’s about teaching them how to build their sense of identity and worth outside of who they are as an athlete.”
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