Columnist Jeff German: Lanni has grown tired of NCAA’s ‘madness’

Friday, March 23, 2001 | 4:33 a.m.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067 or by e-mail at german@lasvegassun.com.

TERRY LANNI has never been afraid to speak his mind, especially during March Madness.

That's probably why he has risen to chairman of MGM MIRAGE, the second largest gaming corporation in Nevada.

Last week the straightforward Lanni shook things up on Capitol Hill, when he suggested that he intends to push for legislation that would create "third party oversight" of the NCAA.

"This is a matter I've thought about for a long time," Lanni says. "I just think it's good business to do it."

Lanni was in Washington lobbying for a Nevada delegation bill to step up Justice Department scrutiny of illegal sports betting on college campuses.

The bill, which by week's end had 76 House co-sponsors, was introduced in February to counter the NCAA's campaign to ban sports betting in Nevada.

Lanni made it clear that he's not a fan of the way the NCAA has been operating.

"I chaired the board of trustees of Loyola Marymount University for a number of years in Los Angeles," he says. "I've had experience dealing with the NCAA. People I came across were always very frustrated by the NCAA. They kind of viewed it the way they viewed the IRS -- that it basically runs amok."

Some members of Nevada's congressional delegation, though they like Lanni's proposal, were caught off guard by it.

"It just came out of left field," one Nevada source on the Hill says. "It wasn't something we had been kicking around.

"It could be a brilliant idea, but the timing may not be the best right now. It may look like it's motivated by revenge in the heat of the battle with the NCAA."

Lanni says revenge has nothing to do with his proposal.

"I'm not vengeful," he says. "What do I have to be vengeful about? I love college basketball."

Then he boasts about the fine showing of USC, his alma mater, in the NCAA's March Madness basketball tournament.

But the MGM MIRAGE boss remains serious about his desire to hold the NCAA more accountable.

"I think this is a necessary thing to do," he says. "A better organized, better directed NCAA can be a very effective organization. I would hope that the NCAA, in evaluating its situation, would come to its senses and agree that it needs third-party oversight."

So far the NCAA hasn't taken kindly to Lanni's suggestion.

But another Nevada delegation insider says the idea needs to be explored.

"We're learning more and more about the NCAA," the source says. "It's a very powerful organization that answers to no public body."

American Gaming Association President Frank Fahrenkopf, the industry's chief Washington lobbyist, says Lanni didn't tell him in advance that he was going to go public with his proposal.

But Fahrenkopf adds: "Terry says what's on his mind. I've heard him talk before about the tremendous power the NCAA has over universities."

Lanni insists that he wants to see the sports betting conflict with the NCAA resolved before he dives into the oversight campaign.

It doesn't even matter to him whether the Nevada delegation takes the lead in the drive.

He says he has plenty of friends from other states on Capitol Hill.

A third Nevada delegation source confirms that other members of Congress outside the Silver State would love to look at whether reported NCAA abuses around the country fall under federal law.

"There's a significant undercurrent here," the source says. "The NCAA, by injecting itself into the sports betting issue in Washington, may have inadvertently shined the spotlight on itself."

Stranger things have happened during March Madness.