ESPN Men's Basketball

Copy machines and printers are working overtime this week in offices across the country. But instead of the usual memos, legal briefs and company clippings, thousands and thousands of NCAA Tournament bracket sheets will be churned out. Martha Stewart and Michael Jackson, for the time being, will be spared at the water cooler.

Though office pools are illegal in about half of the U.S. states, millions of people will wager anywhere from $1 to thousands of dollars, or more, on the outcome of NCAA Tournament games again this year. Another $2 billion is expected to be wagered either in Las Vegas or through a variety of offshore sports books. Absent from the frenzy, though, will be several prominent college sports business executives, many of whom say they are playing it safe and staying out of the pools altogether.

"Anyone involved in sports from the business side needs to be careful about office pools," said Tony Ponturo, vice president of global media and sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch. "In our office, the office pool is a fun thing to do for those who aren't closely attached to the sport. But for those of us who are very close, it could be more of an issue. For someone who is involved as close as I am with the NCAA, I don't do it. You know too much, you are involved too much and you want to stay separated from that."

The office pool has been under perhaps more scrutiny than ever since Rick Neuheisel was fired as the University of Washington's football coach in June 2003 for betting on high-stakes tournament pools in which he won more than $12,000.

Although Neuheisel was vindicated this past week after receiving a $4.5 million settlement for wrongful termination -- it's not illegal to gamble in office pools in Washington, and a university compliance officer had given him the OK to do it -- the ordeal has caused other executives intricately involved in sports business to reconsider whether to even fill out a bracket sheet this year.

"The Neuheisel situation has really brought the whole office pool aspect of it into play now," said Rick Dudley, president and chief executive of Octagon, one of the largest sports agencies. "The integrity of the game is what this is all about. So do we say, you can't have pools in our office? No. But due to our representation of coaches, representation of athletes and our involvement with sports leagues and corporate sponsors, we certainly don't have a companywide office pool."

In a recent survey of employees with hundreds of companies, approximately 60 percent said they participate in office pools, with NCAA brackets being the most popular, according to Vault Inc., a publisher of career guide books.

"We found that upper management is taking office pool betting more seriously this year," Vault president Mark Oldman said. "It used to be scoffed at as a harmless avocation in the office, but now it seems like there is a sense that if a company officially sponsors a high-stakes activity, some heads could roll."

Some states prohibit betting in general, while others allow it provided the "house" doesn't take a cut of the winnings. Either way, office pool regulation by law enforcement has been very minimal.

College sports' governing body has long opposed all forms of sports gambling. NCAA bylaws stipulate that employees of the NCAA or member athletic departments may not gamble on intercollegiate athletics.

	“	If more executives with close ties to the sports world are not participating in office pools as a result of the Neuheisel case and publicity surrounding it ... perhaps that's the silver lining in it. ”
		— NCAA president Myles Brand

"Office pools are not innocuous because in the extreme it can become insidious," said Myles Brand, president of the NCAA, which will pay $2.5 million to Neuheisel as part of the settlement. "If more executives with close ties to the sports world are not participating in office pools as a result of the Neuheisel case and publicity surrounding it, and are taking more responsibility, perhaps that's the silver lining in it."

In 1981, concerned with the appearance of impropriety, then-CBS Sports president Neal Pilson banned gambling on golfers competing in The Masters within the house the television network rented in Augusta, Ga.

"Office pools and personal bets don't go to the issue of credibility of influencing the outcome of the event, but if I were at CBS right now, sitting in the truck, I would be careful about participating even in a pool."

CBS Sports president Sean McManus declined to comment when asked about the network's current policy concerning its executives and office pools.

"For people involved in the business, it makes a lot of sense for them to just stay out of it," said Justin Wolfers, an assistant professor at The Wharton School who has taught behavioral economics and business ethics. "Although office pools aren't heavily policed, for those overseeing some of these bigger pools, there's a growing fear that authorities might get involved."

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn3.com.