This fall, the Center for Science in the Public Interest launched a new campaign to define publicly the problem of alcohol advertising on televised sports, build consensus among people and groups concerned about this issue, and build public, media and policy-maker support for change.

The Campaign for Alcohol-Free Sports TV recently wrote to every president and every athletic director in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), requesting endorsement of the "College Commitment," a pledge to support reform in alcohol advertising at individual schools, at the conference level, and within the NCAA. Ohio State University, home of the 2002 national college football champions, became the first school to sign the commitment.

At the Campaign's November launch event, Dean Smith, former head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina, said: "Ask yourself this question: If aspirin were the leading cause of death on college campuses, do you think chancellors, presidents, and trustees would allow aspirin commercials on basketball and football telecasts? They wouldn't, not for a minute."

Representative Tom Osborne (R-NE), former football coach at the University of Nebraska, is also a prominent supporter of the Campaign. "It is particularly difficult for me to understand beer commercials and malt liquor commercials appearing during NCAA sports events. Most of the young people who participate in NCAA athletics are under the legal drinking age, and since intercollegiate athletes are supposed to represent positive values, the alcohol commercials seem particularly inappropriate," said Osborne.

Few college campuses are immune from the widespread problems associated with underage and binge drinking. In 2001, two out of five college students were classified as binge drinkers and in 1999, more than 30 percent of students in a national survey showed symptoms of alcohol abuse while more than 40 percent showed symptoms of alcohol abuse or dependence.

College and universities counsel underage students not to drink and of-age students to drink responsibly, but then often accept revenues from beer advertising during their televised sports broadcasts, thereby undermining the message they are trying to send to students. Those ad revenues are surely not worth the economic costs of alcohol misuse nor the intangible costs to student health, community relationships, and time lost and stress felt by college administrators who work on alcohol-related issues.

As former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, now president of the University of Miami, once said: "We need to sever the tie between college sports and drinking. Completely. Absolutely. And forever."

CSPI urges advocates to send letters to college presidents urging support for the College Commitment. Letters from alums, students, parents, fans, and prospective students will have significant weight with the president. To learn more, visit the Campaign's web site: www.BeerFreeSportsTV.org.