In a letter to NCAA President Myles Brand, a group of more than 100 college presidents and athletic directors called for a ban on beer ads during broadcasts of NCAA basketball games, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

"Given the persistent problems caused by underage and excessive college drinking, much of it in the form of beer, we find it inconceivable that the NCAA's profiting from beer promotion during the telecasts of college basketball games comports with the best interests of higher education, sports or student welfare," the letter stated. "NCAA allowance of beer advertising serves to enrich broadcasters unnecessarily at the expense of the values of sports and higher education."

The group asked the NCAA Division I Board of Directors and Executive Committee to review its alcohol policies, which were amended in 2005 to impose limits on the volume of alcohol advertising during game broadcasts. An analysis by CSPI contends that the NCAA is exceeding those guidelines, which call for no more than 60 seconds per hour of beer ads and a maximum of 120 seconds of such ads per game (ads for liquor are prohibited).

CSPI said that CBS aired 200 seconds worth of beer ads during the recent UCLA vs. Memphis broadcast and 240 seconds of ads during the North Carolina vs. Kansas game.

"[E]xceeding that limit shows that the NCAA has a cavalier, 'devil may care' attitude about exposing kids to beer ads," said Tracy Downs, manager of CSPI's Campaign for Alcohol-Free Sports TV. "They don't even care enough to enforce their own policy."

High-profile figures like Tom Osborne, athletic director of the University of Nebraska, and Dean Smith, former University of North Carolina basketball coach, are among the members of the Campaign's national advisory council.

The American Medical Association also placed ads in college newspapers and the Chronicle of Higher Education during the recent NCAA basketball "March Madness" tournament, calling for schools to "Stop the Madness" and ban alcohol marketing in college sports.