Wedding Registry Raises Questions for College Athletes

A recent story about "the kerfuffle surrounding the wedding registry of Kyle Guy", University of Virginia basketball guard, caught our attention and left us with more questions than answers, even though the story is "over".

The UVA guard had originally tweeted (and deleted), "Hope you weren't planning on buying anything off there bc ncaa compliance said it was a violation so i had to make it to where only i can see it."  Guy also told reporters during a locker room session, "That was crazy to me that that's illegal because that's what a registry is for". He added, "Yeah, NCAA said it was illegal, so I'm not going to argue with it right now."

According to reports, officials with the NCAA never told Guy or his fiance that they had to remove the registry.  In fact, it was the compliance office at the university that sent the cease-and-desist letter to the founder of the sports blog Busted Coverage after the website shared the wedding registry link in a post asking readers to show their appreciation for the team's leading scorer by purchasing a gift for his upcoming nuptials.

The Washington Post reports that NCAA President, Mark Emmert indicated that posting a public registry is not a violation of NCAA rules and that the university compliance office was acting on an overabundance of caution.

Apparently the school was trying to protect the athlete's eligibility to play and the issue was all a big misunderstanding, but it leaves  the question still unanswered about a media source sharing the public registry on it's platform. NCAA rules prohibit athletes from receiving extra benefits, including "cash, gift certificates or other items with value" from athletic representatives, boosters, or fans.  What isn't as clear is whether or not the sharing of a wedding registry on a public platform is in violation of any NCAA rules.