NCAA partners with Venmo to assist athletes who face harassment on the payment app

Key Points

• The NCAA has partnered with Venmo to provide support for athletes facing harassment on the app, including a hotline for reporting abuse.
• Venmo will monitor accounts of student-athletes for unwanted payment requests related to game performance and implement additional security measures.
• NCAA President Charlie Baker emphasized the need for online platforms to combat harassment and praised Venmo's proactive approach.
• Venmo has introduced school spirit-branded debit cards and a best-practices guide for athletes to enhance safety on its platform.

Venmo announced a partnership Tuesday with the NCAA to support athletes who face harassment on the payment app, which has embraced its popularity on college campuses with school spirit-branded debit cards and an option for athletes to receive money from their school directly in the PayPal app.

The partnership includes a reporting hotline for athletes and the NCAA to call in potential cases of abuse, such as when former Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne said he received payment requests from angry sports bettors following a loss last season.

“The harassment we are seeing across various online platforms is unacceptable, and we need fans to do better," NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a news release. “We applaud Venmo for taking action, and we need more social media companies and online platforms to do the same.”

Venmo said it would provide a best-practices guide for athletes to “stay safe” on its platform.

“Venmo will monitor student-athletes’ accounts on an ongoing basis to help mitigate an influx of requests based on game performance and work directly with them to implement additional security measures as needed,” the news release said.

The payment app in July announced Big 12-branded debit cards with special perks, leaning into its belief that Venmo plays “an integral role in the way millions of college students, athletes, alumni, and fans engage with each other and move money in their daily lives.”

“Venmo’s origins are on college campuses. It’s where our network took hold," Geoff Seeley, chief marketing officer at Venmo’s parent company, PayPal, said in a news release.

PayPal also announced in June an agreement with the Big 12 and Big Ten that allows schools to pay their players directly through its platform.

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