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College athletics in the United States

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College athletics in the United States or college sports in the United States refers primarily to sports and athletic competition organized and funded by institutions of tertiary education (universities, or colleges in American English).

In the United States, college athletics is a two-tiered system. The first tier includes the sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies. The major sanctioning organizations include the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). Individual sports not governed by umbrella organizations like the NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA are overseen by their own organizations, such as the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association, National Collegiate Boxing Association, USA Rugby, National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association and Intercollegiate Rowing Association. Additionally, the first tier is characterized by selective participation, since only the elite programs in their sport are able to participate; some colleges offer athletic scholarships to intercollegiate sports competitors. The second tier includes all intramural and recreational sports clubs, which are available to a larger portion of the student body. Competition between student clubs from different colleges, not organized by and therefore not representing the institutions or their faculties, may also be called "intercollegiate" athletics or simply college sports.

Unlike in the rest of the world, in the United States today, many college sports are extremely popular on both regional and national scales, in many cases competing with professional championships for prime broadcast, print coverage and for the top athletes. The average university sponsors at least twenty different sports and offers a wide variety of intramural sports as well. In total, there are approximately 400,000 men and women student-athletes that participate in sanctioned athletics each year. The largest collegiate sanctioning organization is the NCAA, and the sport that most schools participate in the most is basketball, with 2,197 men's and women's basketball teams at all levels. A close second is cross crounty (with 2,065 NCAA teams) and baseball/softball is third (1,952).

Principles for inter-collegiate athletics include "gender equity, sportsmanship and ethical conduct, sound academic standards, nondiscrimination, diversity within governance, rules compliance, amateurism, competitive equity, recruiting, eligibility, financial aid, playing and practice seasons, postseason competition and contests sponsored by non-collegiate organizations, and the economy of athletic program operations to ensure fair play and equality throughout all college athletic programs and associations."

Contents

• 1Beginnings
• 2Organization
• 3The role of intercollegiate athletics at U.S. universities
• 4Popularity and importance of intercollegiate athletics
  • 4.1History and Growth of College Sports
• 5Revenues and expenses
• 6Title IX
  • 6.1Impact on college sports
• 7Debate over paying athletes
  • 7.1Professional pay
    • 7.1.1Court cases
  • 7.2Arguments against paying college athletes
  • 7.3Licensing of likenesses
• 8Longest-running annual international sporting event
• 9See also
• 10References
• 11External links

Beginnings[edit]

The first organized college sports club was formed in 1843 when Yale University created a boat club. Harvard University then followed in their footsteps, creating a similar boat club a year later. These boat clubs participated in rowing races called Regattas. The creation of these organizations set the stage for the first intercollegiate sporting event in the U.S. This event took place in 1852, when the rowing team from Yale competed against the rowing team from Harvard at Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. This marked the beginning of intercollegiate competition and triggered the creation of numerous college athletic organizations.^[] This historic race sparked the venerable rivalry between the two schools, the Yale-Harvard Regatta is considered the cornerstone of intercollegiate athletic competition in the United States.

In the late 1850s, bat and ball games had started to become highly known and the sport of baseball was starting to become an establishment at U.S. universities. The first intercollegiate baseball game took place in 1859 between Amherst College and Williams College. The popularity of collegiate baseball increased from this point, and by 1870, college teams were playing extensive schedules. In 1879, the first official intercollegiate baseball league was formed. The first intercollegiate cricket match took place May 7, 1864 between the University of Pennsylvania and Haverford College. Track and field also grew in popularity during this time, and the first intercollegiate track and field event occurred in 1873. This competition featured a two-mile race between athletes from Amherst College, Cornell University, and McGill University of Montreal, Canada. The first intercollegiate soccer match in the U.S. took place on November 6, 1869, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, when clubs from Princeton and Rutgers played under rules modified from those of association football. The first intercollegiate rugby game took place on May 15, 1874, at Cambridge, Massachusetts when Harvard played against McGill University. The first intercollegiate football game between teams from Rutgers College (now Rutgers University) and the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) took place on November 6, 1869 at College Field (now the site of the College Avenue Gymnasium at Rutgers University) in New Brunswick, New Jersey.^]

Organization[edit]

In addition to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), there are other collegiate multi-sport athletic organizations, some of which also have hundreds of member schools. These include:

• The Association of Christian College Athletics or ACCA, 17 members
  • Division 1, 17 schools
  • Division 2, (basketball only)
• The California Community College Athletic Association or CCCAA, 107 members, over 25,000 athletes
• The National Junior College Athletic Association or NJCAA
  • Division 1, 221 teams
  • Division 2, 118 teams
  • Division 3, 98 teams
• The National Christian College Athletic Association or NCCAA
  • Division 1, 53 teams
  • Division 2, 36 teams
• The National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association or NIRSA, more than 4,500 members
• The United States Collegiate Athletic Association or USCAA
  • Division 1, 79 members
  • Division 2, 53 members (basketball only)
• The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics or NAIA, 256 members
  • Division 1, approximately 240 members
  • Division 2, (basketball only) 80 members
• The Northwest Athletic Conference or NWAC, 36 members

There are a number of single sport-organizations, including leagues and conferences (see "List of college athletic conferences in the United States"), as well as governing bodies that sponsor collegiate championships (see "Intercollegiate sports team champions").

The role of intercollegiate athletics at U.S. universities[edit]

Graham Harrell, college football player During the early 1840s, student-athletes contributed actively to all phases of administration and control. Student athletes were involved in the sporting process, made athletic procedures and regulations for universities and also played an important role in determining which sporting events would and would not happen on universities. Today, the kind of involvement on the part of the athlete is virtually unheard of, with the only remnants of student participation in athlete administration being programs in which student governments have some control over the distribution of free allocations to athletics. Furthermore, this movement today focuses on the role of intercollegiate sports in the United States rather than the contributions of the student athlete.^[]

Academic curriculum and requirements affect student athletes:

"When academic and athletic departments have conflicting aims, problems arise that affect the entire institution. American society values the elitism of academics and athletics in a manner that provokes conflict for participants in both domains. At various colleges, it is believed that academic elitism can be constructed on athletic elitism: Athletic teams aspire to be national champions, while their affiliate academic institutions seek national rankings. However, the means by which coaches and faculty achieve national reputations can create conflict for student athletes attempting to exist in both environments. Although both aspire to excel, the different measures of excellence for academics and athletics necessitates compromise by those who are placed in both settings." This policy, attempted by a large number of colleges, works for only a few.^{[citation needed]}

College administrators have the challenge of balancing university values while maximizing the revenue generated by their athletic department. To maintain financial sustainability, several athletic directors have stated that the elimination of men's non-revenue programs is the only way to balance their athletic budgets.^{[citation needed]} Men's non-revenue sport teams will likely be facing declining financial support in future generations.

"Division I institutions are required to have seven athletic teams for men and seven for women (or six for men and eighth for women). As well, there must be two team sports for each gender, and each gender must have a team in each of the three season (i. e., Fall, Winter, Spring). Excluding basketball and football, teams must play 100% of their minimum number of games against Division 1 opponents, and 50% of games above the minimum number must be played against Division I teams. Men's and women's basketball teams must play all but two of their contests against Division 1 opponents, and men must play at least one third of their games in their home arena. In Division I, football is further sectioned into FBS (NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision), and FCS (Football Championship Subdivision). FBS schools must play at least 60% of their games against other FBS opponents, and demonstrate their ability to attract a high level of spectatorship." Additionally, college football bowl eligibility rules mandate that only one win over an FCS team can be counted toward the six required for eligibility; this in turn means that FBS teams typically schedule at most one game against an FCS team in a given season.

Popularity and importance of intercollegiate athletics[edit]

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College athletics has been popular since the 1920s and its popularity has increased as the games are being televised. Also, college sports are important both culturally and economically. Intercollegiate athletics creates a culturally and racially diverse setting for academics and athletics.  Economically some schools are benefiting from their athletic programs through ticket sales, merchandise sales, and outside donations.

College sports in the United States is measured by the large number of universities that participate in 24 different NCAA sports. This allows more than 460,000 student-athletes, both male and female, to participate in those NCAA sports. As of the late 80’s Division 1 program employed over 75 coaches, trainers, and administrative staff as full-time faculty to support their athletic programs. The Florida State Seminoles vs Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets during the 2014 ACC Championship Game

Several American colleges, Division 1 and 2, offer scholarships to over 190,000 athletes. Every year these division 1 and 2 schools spend over 3 billion in athletic-scholarships. American college sports are popular worldwide with over 20,000 international athletes participating in college athletics.

College attendance records by sport

College sport	Attendance	Event
Football	1	2016 Battle at Bristol - Virginia Tech vs Tennessee
Ice hockey	113,411	2010 Michigan State at Michigan
Basketball	79,444	2014 NCAA semifinals
Lacrosse	52,004	2007 NCAA men's championship semifinal
Baseball	40,106	2004 Houston at San Diego St.
Soccer	22,512	1980 SIU Edwardsville at St. Louis University
Volleyball	17,430	2008 NCAA semifinals
Wrestling	42,287	2016 Grapple on the Gridiron

Another reason for the importance of college athletics in the U.S. is the important role it plays in the hierarchy of sport organizations. In his article about collegiate sports programs, Thomas Rosandich refers to a "performance pyramid", which shows the general progression of athletic organizations in the United States. At the bottom of this pyramid is youth sports organizations, since these organizations have participation open to nearly everyone. As the pyramid progresses, the level of competition increases, while the number of competitors decreases until the highest level of organized sport, professional sports, is reached. In many respects, the intercollegiate sports level serves as a feeder system to the professional level, as the elite college athletes are chosen to compete at the next level. This system differs greatly from nearly all other countries in the world, which generally have government-funded sports organizations that serve as a feeder system for professional competition.