National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

I

Introduction

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), organization that serves as the administrative and legislative body for the majority of intercollegiate athletics in the United States. The NCAA is comprised of representatives from member colleges, universities, and athletic conferences. The organization has its headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The stated mission of the NCAA is to “maintain intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the educational program and the athlete as an integral part of the student body.” Chief functions of the association include establishing regulations and enforcing compliance for all member institutions and their athletes, which incorporates everything from academic eligibility rules to scholarship limits; controlling the rights to all media broadcasts and coverage of NCAA events; conducting postseason championship tournaments; health and safety issues for student athletes; and handling disputes among members.

II

Organization

The NCAA has more than 1,250 member schools, conferences, and affiliated organizations. In 2004 it administered 23 sports and conducted more than 80 championship events. In 1997 the organization shifted administrative control at the school level from athletic directors to college presidents. The NCAA executive committee oversees association-wide issues, with the assistance of numerous subcommittees as well as regional and local offices and officials.

Member schools select to compete in one of three competitive NCAA divisions, which are differentiated by factors such as the number of sports offered and their recruitment and financial aid policies. Division I and II schools must obey certain minimums and maximums regarding the number of athletic scholarships offered, while Division III schools are not permitted to give any athletic scholarship money (need-based aid may still be awarded). NCAA Division I programs are further subdivided into two classifications: I-A schools have large football programs with specific spectator attendance requirements, while I-AA schools have smaller football programs with no attendance minimums.

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More than 75 percent of the NCAA’s annual revenue comes from television rights to its competitions. The bulk of this money comes from the annual Division I men’s basketball championship tournament. In 2003 the CBS television network began an 11-year, $6-billion contract for the broadcast rights to the three-week-long tournament, one of the most popular sporting events in the country. Division I-A college football also generates large amounts of broadcast revenue, but because the sport lacks an NCAA-sanctioned postseason tournament the bulk of the money goes directly to the conferences and schools rather than to the NCAA.

III

History

A

Early Years

The Intercollegiate Athletic Association (IAA) was founded in 1906 in response to the rising number of serious injuries and even fatalities in high school and college football. In 1910 the IAA changed its name to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It initially functioned only as a rulemaking body charged with making intercollegiate athletics safer and more uniform. In 1921 the organization held its first championship event, a track-and-field competition.

Before World War II (1939-1945) the NCAA primarily worked to establish standardized rules for various sports. The first NCAA men’s basketball championship tournament, held in 1939, featured just eight teams, and for several decades the competition was eclipsed by the privately run, East Coast-dominated National Invitational Tournament (NIT).

B

Money and College Sports

The status and importance of the NCAA grew steadily in the second half of the 20th century as it began to generate significant revenues. In the early 1950s the NCAA took control of the rights to college football broadcasts, which at the time eclipsed professional football and basketball in attendance and fan interest. Men’s college basketball grew in popularity and revenue in the ensuing decades, especially when the postseason tournament expanded in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, college football and basketball—together often referred to as the revenue-generating sports—bring in millions of dollars a year at top-tier schools.

As the influence of money in college athletics grew steadily, the NCAA’s policy on amateurism became a source of controversy and debate. The organization stipulates that college athletes receive no direct compensation for their play, although in the early 1950s it voted to allow athletic scholarships (which covers tuition, room, board, and miscellaneous costs such as books). The NCAA has dismissed or ignored any attempt to develop some form of direct payment program to student-athletes.

As college sports have grown in influence and visibility as well as financially, the intensity of debate has also increased. The NCAA’s detractors argue that major college sports are thoroughly corrupted by money—only a fraction of which goes toward scholarships—and no longer focus on the best interests of the student-athlete. At the same time, supporters of the NCAA contend that high-profile college athletics serve as a means of keeping alumni connected to their schools, serve as a source of school and community pride, and—most importantly—provide needed funding for the many college sports programs that do not generate revenue.

This conflict dates back to long before the age of billion-dollar NCAA television contracts or teenage athletes signing professional contracts for millions of dollars. A 1951 editorial in the New York Times noted: “[The college athlete] lives in a twilight zone between pure amateurism and out-and-out professionalism. And there [lies] the fundamental flaw in intercollegiate athletics as it exists today.”

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