Katana VentraIP

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)[b] is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and one in Canada.[3] It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and helps over 500,000 college student athletes who compete annually in college sports.[3] The organization is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"NCAA" redirects here. For the unrelated athletics association in the Philippines, see National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines). For other uses, see NCAA (disambiguation).

Abbreviation

NCAA

March 31, 1906 (1906-03-31) in New York City, U.S.[a]

Association

Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.

United States and one institution in Canada[2]

About 1,100 schools[3]

Board of Governors

Until 1957, the NCAA was a single division for all schools. That year, the NCAA split into the University Division and the College Division.[4] In August 1973, the current three-division system of Division I, Division II, and Division III was adopted by the NCAA membership in a special convention. Under NCAA rules, Division I and Division II schools can offer scholarships to athletes for playing a sport. Division III schools may not offer any athletic scholarships. Generally, larger schools compete in Division I and smaller schools in II and III. Division I football was further divided into I-A and I-AA in 1978, while Division I programs that did not have football teams were known as I-AAA. In 2006, Divisions I-A and I-AA were respectively renamed the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). In its 2016–17 fiscal year, the NCAA took in $1.06 billion in revenue, over 82% of which was generated by the Division I men's basketball tournament.


Controversially, the NCAA substantially restricts the kinds of benefits and compensation (including paid salary) that collegiate athletes could receive from their schools. The consensus among economists is these caps for men's basketball and football players benefit the athletes' schools (through rent-seeking) at the expense of the athletes.[5][6][7] Economists have subsequently characterized the NCAA as a cartel.[8][9][10] In 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled that some of these NCAA restrictions on student athletes are in violation of US antitrust law.[11]

In the late-1940s, there were only two colleges in the country, and Pennsylvania, with national TV contracts, a considerable source of revenue. In 1951, the NCAA voted to prohibit any live TV broadcast of college football games during the season. No sooner had the NCAA voted to ban television than public outcry forced it to retreat. Instead, the NCAA voted to restrict the number of televised games for each team to stop the slide in gate attendance. University of Pennsylvania president Harold Stassen defied the monopoly and renewed its contract with ABC. Eventually, Penn dropped its suit when the NCAA, refusing Penn's request that the U.S. Attorney General rule on the legality of the NCAA's restrictive plan,[41] threatened to expel the university from the association. Notre Dame continued televising its games through 1953, working around the ban by filming its games, then broadcasting them the next evening.[42]

Notre Dame

In 1957, the Colorado Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the family of deceased Trinidad College football player Ray Herbert Dennison. Despite suffering a lethal concussion injury on the field in a game versus Fort Lewis A&M College, Dennison was not entitled to any compensation because he was not under a contractual obligation to play football. Furthermore, the court stated that the "college did not receive a direct benefit from the activities, since the college was not in the football business and received no benefit from this field of recreation".

[43]

In 1977, prompted partly by the Tarkanian Case, the US Congress initiated an investigation into the NCAA. It, combined with Tarkanian's case, forced the NCAA's internal files into the public record.[45]

[44]

In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in that the NCAA's complete control of television rights violated the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts, paving the way for schools and conferences to independently make deals with TV broadcasters directly.[32][46]

NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

In 1998, the NCAA settled a $2.5 million lawsuit filed by former UNLV basketball coach, . Tarkanian sued the NCAA after he was forced to resign from UNLV, where he had been head coach from 1973 to 1992. The suit claimed the agency singled him out, penalizing the university's basketball program three times in that span. Tarkanian said, "They can never, ever, make up for all the pain and agony they caused me. All I can say is that for 25 years they beat the hell out of me". The NCAA said that it regretted the long battle and it now has more understanding of Tarkanian's position and that the case has changed the enforcement process for the better.[47]

Jerry Tarkanian

In 1999, the NCAA was sued for discriminating against female athletes under for systematically giving men in graduate school more waivers than a woman to participate in college sports. In National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Smith, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA was not subject to that law, without reviewing the merits of the discrimination claim.[33][48]

Title IX

In 2007, the case of White et al. v. NCAA, No. CV 06-999-RGK (C.D. Cal. September 20, 2006) was brought by former NCAA student-athletes , Brian Pollack, Jovan Harris, and Chris Craig as a class action lawsuit. They argued that the NCAA's current limits on a full scholarship or grant-in-aid was a violation of federal antitrust laws. Their reasoning was that in the absence of such a limit, NCAA member schools would be free to offer any financial aid packages they desired to recruit the student and athlete. The NCAA settled before a ruling by the court, by agreeing to set up the Former Student-Athlete Fund to "assist qualified candidates applying for receipt of career development expenses and/or reimbursement of educational expenses under the terms of the agreement with plaintiffs in a federal antitrust lawsuit."[49]

Jason White

In 2013, claimed that the NCAA was taking advantage of individual players through jersey sales in its store. Specifically, he typed the names of several top college football players, Tajh Boyd, Teddy Bridgewater, Jadeveon Clowney, Johnny Manziel, and A. J. McCarron, into the search engine of the NCAA's official online store. The search results returned corresponding numbered team jerseys. The NCAA subsequently removed the team jerseys listed on its site.[50]

Jay Bilas

In March 2014, four players filed a class action lawsuit (O'Bannon v. NCAA), alleging that the NCAA and its five dominant conferences are an "unlawful cartel". The suit charges that NCAA caps on the value of athletic scholarships have "illegally restricted the earning power of football and men's basketball players while making billions off their labor".[51] Tulane University Sports Law Program Director Gabe Feldman called the suit "an instantly credible threat to the NCAA." On September 30, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that limiting compensation to the cost of an athlete's attendance at a university was sufficient. It simultaneously ruled against a federal judge's proposal to pay student athletes $5,000 per year in deferred compensation.[52]

antitrust

In August 2015, the National Labor Relations Board reversed a decision settled in the prior year that classified members of Northwestern University's scholarship football players as employees, thus, granting them the right to collectively bargain for their rights. The unionization efforts were a direct effort led by the College Athletes Player Association and Kain Colter, who operated with the support of the United Steelworkers group. The case was ultimately struck down due to difficulties in applying the ruling across both public and private institutions. The NCAA made several improvements to the value of athletic scholarships and the quality of healthcare coverage in response to this movement by the Northwestern football players.[53] These reforms included guaranteeing the entire four years of scholarship in the event of a career-ending injury, the implementation of "cost of attendance" stipends, the institution of "unlimited" athlete meal plans, and protections for the name, image, and likeness of athletes by third parties such as Electronic Arts.[53]

[53]

In 2018 former kicker Donald De La Haye filed a lawsuit alleging that the university violated his First Amendment rights when it rescinded his full athletic scholarship over the income De La Haye made from his monetized YouTube channel, which he started before he attended college. UCF argued De La Haye violated the NCAA policy forbidding student-athletes from using their likenesses to make money.[54] De La Haye ultimately settled with UCF so that he could obtain his degree from the university.

UCF

In June 2021 the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously affirmed a ruling in that provides for an incremental increase in how college athletes can be compensated. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the court's opinion, which upheld a district court judge's decision that the NCAA was violating antitrust law by placing limits on the education-related benefits that schools can provide to athletes. The decision allows schools to provide their athletes with unlimited compensation as long as it is some way connected to their education. The idea that college athletes should not be paid, a fundamental tenet of the 115-year-old NCAA, has faced increasing scrutiny in recent years. Federal antitrust lawsuits have slowly eroded strict amateurism rules during the past decade.[55]

NCAA v. Alston

Headquarters[edit]

The modern era of the NCAA began in July 1955 when its executive director, Kansas City, Missouri native Walter Byers, moved the organization's headquarters from the LaSalle Hotel in Chicago (where its offices were shared by the headquarters of the Big Ten Conference) to the Fairfax Building in Downtown Kansas City. The move was intended to separate the NCAA from the direct influence of any individual conference and keep it centrally located.


The Fairfax was a block from Municipal Auditorium which had hosted men's basketball Final Four games in 1940, 1941, and 1942. After Byers moved the headquarters to Kansas City, the championships would be held in Municipal Auditorium in 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1961, and 1964. The Fairfax office consisted of three rooms with no air conditioning. Byers' staff consisted of four people: an assistant, two secretaries, and a bookkeeper.[56]


In 1964, the NCAA moved three blocks away to offices in the Midland Theatre, moving again in 1973 to a $1.2 million building on 3.4 acres (14,000 m2) on Shawnee Mission Parkway in suburban Mission, Kansas. In 1989, the organization moved 6 miles (9.7 km) farther south to Overland Park, Kansas. The new building was on 11.35 acres (45,900 m2) and had 130,000 square feet (12,000 m2) of space.[57]


The NCAA was dissatisfied with its Johnson County, Kansas suburban location, noting that its location on the southern edges of the Kansas City suburbs was more than 40 minutes from Kansas City International Airport. They also noted that the suburban location was not drawing visitors to its new visitors' center.[58]


In 1997, it asked for bids for a new headquarters. Various cities competed for a new headquarters with the two finalists being Kansas City and Indianapolis. Kansas City proposed to relocate the NCAA back downtown near the Crown Center complex and would locate the visitors' center in Union Station. However Kansas City's main sports venue Kemper Arena was nearly 23 years old.[58] Indianapolis argued that it was in fact more central than Kansas City in that two-thirds of the members are east of the Mississippi River.[58] The 50,000-seat RCA Dome far eclipsed 19,500-seat Kemper Arena. In 1999, the NCAA moved its 300-member staff to its new headquarters in the White River State Park in a four-story 140,000-square-foot (13,000 m2) facility on the west edge of downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. Adjacent to the headquarters is the 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) NCAA Hall of Champions.[59]

1951–1988 (Executive Director)

Walter Byers

1981–1983 (Executive Director)

James Frank

1988–1993

Dick Schultz

1991–1993

Judith Sweet

1994–2002[63]

Cedric Dempsey

2003–2009[63][64]

Myles Brand

2009–2010 (interim)[65]

Jim Isch

2010–2023

Mark Emmert

2023–present[66]

Charlie Baker

In addition to the sports above, the NCAA sanctioned a from 1932 to 1960. The NCAA discontinued boxing following declines in the sport during the 1950s and following the death of a boxer at the 1960 NCAA tournament.

boxing championship

The NCAA also formerly sanctioned a trampoline championship. Prior to 1969, it was one of the events in the men's gymnastics championship, but it was given its own championship in 1969 and 1970 before being dropped completely.

[82]

Acrobatics and tumbling was not a women's varsity sport in 1982 and the NCAA report does not include the number of teams for that year. Bowling is first listed in the NCAA report in 2020–21 with 27 teams, and so the number of teams for that season is listed in the table above.

Bowling was not a women's varsity sport in 1982 and the NCAA report does not include the number of teams for that year. Bowling is first listed in the NCAA report in 1998–99 with 5 teams, and so the number of teams for that season is listed in the table above.

Beach volleyball was not a women's varsity sport in 1982 and the NCAA report does not include the number of teams for that year. Beach volleyball is first listed in the NCAA report in 2011–12 with 14 teams, and so the number of teams for that season is listed in the table above.

Rugby was not a women's varsity sport in 1982 and the NCAA report does not include the number of teams for that year. Bowling is first listed in the NCAA report in 2002–03 with 2 teams, and so the number of teams for that season is listed in the table above.

Stunt was not a women's varsity sport in 1982 and the NCAA report does not include the number of teams for that year. Water polo is first listed in the NCAA report in 2022–23 with 2 teams, and so the number of teams for that season is listed in the table above.

Triathlon was not a women's varsity sport in 1982 and the NCAA report does not include the number of teams for that year. Bowling is first listed in the NCAA report in 2015–16 with 4 teams, and so the number of teams for that season is listed in the table above.

Water polo was not a women's varsity sport in 1982 and the NCAA report does not include the number of teams for that year. Water polo is first listed in the NCAA report in 2000–01 with 46 teams, and so the number of teams for that season is listed in the table above.

(CAA Football)

Coastal Athletic Association Football Conference

Missouri Valley Football Conference

Pioneer Football League

CBS: Men's basketball (, with TNT Sports, and NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament), track and field, ice hockey (women's division I), golf (Divisions II and III, both genders)

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

ESPN: Women's basketball (all divisions), baseball, softball, ice hockey (men's Division I), football (all divisions including Div. I FCS), soccer (Division I for both genders)

TNT Sports: NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament with CBS

NBC and Golf Channel: golf (Division I, both genders)

The NCAA has current media rights contracts with CBS Sports, CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN+, TNT Sports and Golf Channel for coverage of its 88 championships. According to the official NCAA website,[98] ESPN and its associated networks have rights to 21 championships, CBS to 65, TNT Sports to one and NBC's Golf Channel to two. The following are the most prominent championships and rights holders until the 2023–24 season:


Westwood One has exclusive radio rights to the men's and women's basketball Final Fours and the Men's College World Series (baseball).


From 1998 to 2013, Electronic Arts had a license to develop college sports video games with the NCAA's branding, which included its NCAA Football, NCAA Basketball (formerly NCAA March Madness) and MVP Baseball series. The NCAA's licensing was not required to produce the games, as rights to use teams are not licensed through the NCAA, but through entities such as individual schools and the Collegiate Licensing Company. EA only acquired the license so that it could officially incorporate the Division I men's basketball tournament into its college basketball game series. The NCAA withdrew EA's license due to uncertainties surrounding a series of lawsuits, most notably O'Bannon v. NCAA, involving the use of player likenesses in college sports video games.[99][100]

Office of Inclusion[edit]

Inclusion and Diversity Campaign[edit]

The week-long program took place October 1–5, 2018. The aim was to utilize social media platforms in order to promote diversity and inclusion within intercollegiate athletics. Throughout the NCAA's history, there has been controversy as to the levels of diversity present within intercollegiate athletics, and this campaign is the NCAA's most straightforward approach to combatting these issues.[50]

Stanford – Indians to Cardinals (1972); became Cardinal in 1981

UMass – Redmen and Redwomen to Minutemen and Minutewomen (1972)

Dartmouth – Indians to Big Green (1974)

Siena – Indians to Saints (1988)

Eastern Michigan – Hurons to Eagles (1991)

St. Bonaventure - Brown Indians to Bonnies

St. John's (NY) – Redmen to Red Storm (1994)

Syracuse - Orangemen to Orange

Marquette – Warriors to Golden Eagles (1994)

Chattanooga – Moccasins to Mocs, suggestive of mockingbirds (1996)

Miami (OH) – Redskins to RedHawks (1997)

Seattle – Chieftains to Redhawks (2000)

Colgate – Red Raiders to Raiders (2001)

Quinnipiac – Braves to Bobcats (2002)

Southeast Missouri State – Indians (men) and Otahkians (women) to Redhawks (2005)

Louisiana–Monroe – Indians to Warhawks (2006)

Arkansas State – Indians to Red Wolves (2008)

North Dakota – Formally dropped Fighting Sioux in 2012; adopted Fighting Hawks in 2015

[118]

As of 2018, there has been a continuation of changing school mascots that are said by some to be based on racist or offensive stereotypes. Universities under NCAA policy are under scrutiny for specifically Native American-inspired mascots. While many colleges have changed their mascots, some have gotten legal permission from the tribe represented and will continue to bear the mascot. This Native American mascot controversy has not been completely settled; however, many issues have been resolved.[117]


Here is a list of notable colleges that changed Native American mascots and/or nicknames in recent history:


Others:


Of note: Utah (Utes), Central Michigan (Chippewas), Florida State (Seminoles) and Mississippi College (Choctaws) all appealed successfully to the NCAA after being deemed "hostile and offensive." Each cited positive relationships with neighboring tribes in appeal. UNC Pembroke (Braves), an institution originally created to educate Native Americans and enjoying close ties to the local Lumbee tribe, was approved to continue the use of native-derived imagery without needing an appeal.

$210.8M Sport Sponsorship and Scholarship Funds

(not given every year); selection is based on the heroic action occurring during the academic year.

NCAA Award of Valor

honoring an individual who has provided significant leadership as an advocate for intercollegiate athletics.

NCAA Gerald R. Ford Award

(not given every year); selection is based on inspirational action.

NCAA Inspiration Award

honoring student-athletes who have demonstrated one or more of the ideals of sportsmanship.

NCAA Sportsmanship Award

NCAA , the highest honor that the NCAA can confer on an individual.

Theodore Roosevelt Award

honoring a senior student-athlete who has distinguished herself throughout her collegiate career in academics, athletics, service, and leadership.

NCAA Woman of the Year Award

honoring the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA who has reached the competition at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 men's and women's championships (in Divisions I, II, and III, plus "National Collegiate" championships open to schools from more than one division).

Elite 90 Award

honoring six distinguished former student-athletes on the 25th anniversary of their college graduation.

Silver Anniversary Awards

one of the NCAA's highest honors exemplifying outstanding leadership and service to the NCAA.

The Flying Wedge Award

honoring ten outstanding senior student-athletes.

Today's Top 10 Award

honoring the top male and female scholar-athletes.

Walter Byers Scholarship

The NCAA presents a number of different individual awards,[142] including:


In previous years, the NCAA has presented the following awards at its NCAA Honors event: Astronaut Salute, Business Leader Salute, Congressional Medal of Honor Salute, Governor Salute, Olympians Salute, Performing Arts Salute, Presidents Cabinet Salute, Prominent National Media Salute, Special Recognition Awards, U.S. House of Representatives Salute, and U.S. Senate Salute.[143]

(NAIA)

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics

(NJCAA) – two-year colleges (does not operate in California or the Pacific Northwest)

National Junior College Athletic Association

(CCCAA) – two-year colleges in California

California Community College Athletic Association

(NWAC) – two-year colleges in Washington, Oregon and Idaho

Northwest Athletic Conference

(NCCAA)

National Christian College Athletic Association

(USCAA)

United States Collegiate Athletic Association

(AIAW) – disbanded in 1982, after NCAA began sponsoring championships in women's sports

Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women

Carter, W. Burlette (2006). (PDF). Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology. 8 (2): 211–91.

"The Age of Innocence: The First 25 Years of the NCAA, 1906–1931"

Carter, W. Burlette (2000). (PDF). Virginia Journal of Sports and the Law. 8 (1): 1–103.

"Student Athlete Welfare in a Restructured NCAA"

Carter, W. Burlette (2002). (PDF). Indiana Law Review. 35 (3): 851–923.

"Sounding the Death Knell for In Loco Parentis"

Edit this at Wikidata

Official website