Chapter 8

• A significant segment of the sport industry
• Over 450,000 student-athletes at all levels
• More broadcasting of events each year
• Increased number of corporate partnerships
• Enhanced value of broadcasting rights contracts
• Increased number of international student-athletes
• Licensed merchandise can be found globally
• Conference realignment and expansion
• Emergence of conference and team TV networks

• 1852: Crew race between Harvard and Yale was first commercial intercollegiate athletic event in
United States.
– Sponsored by Boston, Concord, and Montreal
RR Co.
• Initial collegiate athletic contests that took place in the 1800s were student-run events (no A.D.)
• As event popularity and pressure to win increased, students began to realize they needed external help.
• 1864: William Wood was hired by the Yale crew team as the first “professional” coach
• 1876: Intercollegiate Football Association: first form of governing association, student developed

(cont.)
• Dangerous nature of football pushed faculty and administrators to get involved in governing intercollegiate athletics.
– 1895: Big Ten Conference was formed to create student eligibility rules.
– 1905: Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the
United States (IAAUS) was formed in response to severe injuries, to make football safer to play.
– 1912: IAAUS changed its name to National
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

(cont.)
• 1929 Carnegie Reports painted bleak picture of intercollegiate athletics, identifying many academic and recruiting abuses, payments to student-athletes, and commercialization of athletics.
• NCAA pressured to change to an organization that would oversee academic standards for studentathletes, monitor recruiting activities of coaches and administrators, and establish principles governing amateurism.

(cont.)
• Question: Was the integrity of higher education being threatened by college athletics?
• 1989: Harris poll found that 78% of Americans thought collegiate athletics were out of hand
• 1989: Knight Commission formed, prompting
NCAA membership to pass numerous rules and regulations regarding recruiting activities, academic standards, and financial practices

(cont.)
• Continuous concerns:
– Escalating costs of fielding athletic teams
– Recruiting violations
– Academic abuses and fraud
– Behavioral problems of athletes and coaches
– Commercialization and exploitation of studentathletes
– Financial gap between athletic departments in the same NCAA division: the “haves” versus the
“have-nots”

• Initial intercollegiate sport competitions were run by men for men, reinforcing existing social attitudes.
• 1892: Senda Berenson introduces basketball to women at Smith College after modifying the rules
• 1896: 1st women’s basketball game: Cal vs.
Stanford
– Predominant theme of women’s involvement in athletics was participation
• 1966: Creation of the Commission on Intercollegiate
Athletics for Women (CIAW)
• 1971: Became Association for Intercollegiate
Athletics for Women (AIAW)

• Endorsed an alternative athletic model for women, emphasizing educational needs of students
• Early 1980s: Engaged in a “power struggle” with
NCAA over governance of women’s athletics
• 1981: NCAA membership voted to add championships for women in Division I
• 1981: NBC did not televise any AIAW championships and would not pay the monies due under its contract
• 1982: AIAW executive board voted to dissolve its association

• The National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) is the primary governing body of intercollegiate athletics in the United States.
• The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
(NAIA) was founded in 1940 for small colleges and universities. Current membership is approximately
300.
• The National Junior College Athletic Association
(NJCAA) was founded in 1937 to govern 2-year colleges. Current membership is approximately 500.

• Voluntary association
– More than 1,250 institutions, conferences, organizations, and related associations
• Goal: Maintain athletics as part of education program
• 1956: Creation of “university” and “college” divisions
• 1973: Three-division system, Divisions I, II, and III, was created to increase flexibility of the NCAA in addressing member needs and interests of schools of varying size
• Two of the more prominent NCAA administrative areas are legislation and governance and academics.
• Enforcement oversees violations, imposes penalties

(cont.)
• NCAA annual convention of all member schools takes place, but the divisions also hold division-specific miniconventions or meetings.
• In addition, each division has a governing body called either the Board of Directors (Division I) or Presidents Council
(Division II and III).
• A Leadership and Legislative Council (Division I) or a
Management Council (Division II and III) consists of presidents, chancellors, and athletic administrators and faculty athletics representatives from member schools.
• NCAA National Office enforces rules membership passes.

• Supports philosophy of competitiveness, generating revenue through athletics, and national success
• FBS is for institutions that are somewhat larger football-playing schools, which must maintain certain attendance requirements.
• FCS is for institutions that are football playing, but do not need to meet attendance requirements.
• Approximately 100 Division 1 members that do not sponsor football

• Division II: Awards athletic scholarships but on a more modest basis than Division I
– Must sponsor at least 10 sports
– At least two team sports for each gender
• Division III: Does not allow athletic scholarships
– Emphasizes participation, placing primary emphasis on regional in-season and conference competition

• Division 1 Member conferences must have a minimum of seven institutions in a single division to be recognized as a voting member conference.
• Have their own compliance director and run seminars regarding NCAA rules and regulations
• Sponsor championships in at least 12 sports sponsored by member institutions in the conference
• May also provide a revenue-sharing program to their member institutions (e.g., Big Ten: $25 mil per team)
• Conference realignment: Current NCAA issue

• Division I: Athletic departments usually employ a large number of associate and assistant athletic directors with specialized responsibilities.
– Athletic director is more like “CEO.”
• Division III: Athletic directors wear many “hats.”
Coaches are usually part-time, or if full-time, have other administrative responsibilities.

•
Manage responsibilities in specialized areas
–Business manager, media relations director, ticket sales manager, director of marketing, sport programs administrator, facilities and events coordinator, academic affairs director
– Areas of growth (fund development, studentathlete services, compliance)
– Other important areas (senior women’s administrator, faculty athletics representative)

• National Office
– National offices of collegiate associations such as the NCAA, NJCAA, and NAIA
• Individual NCAA Member Conference Office
– Employment opportunities in specialized areas such as compliance, conference championships, marketing, and sponsorship areas

• Since the spring of 2010, there have been 84 institutional moves affecting 28 Division I conferences. What is the motivation?
– Increased value of conference television contracts
– Football bowl payouts in the BCS games
– Conference revenue sharing from new TV networks
• Case Study: Southwest Conference (1994)
• 2010: Pac-10 and Big 12 conference expansion
• 2013: “New” Big East realigns with no football
• 2013: American Athletic Conference formed with football

C
• In November of 2011, former Penn State assistant football coach was arraigned on 40 counts of sexual abuse of minors.
• Key administrators faced charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, and endangering the welfare of children based on their alleged awareness of incidents involving Jerry Sandusky and a minor.
• NCAA concluded that there was a significant lack of institutional control and a failure of institutional integrity.

• How to comply with Title IX given institutional financial limitations is a challenge.
• Numerous institutions are choosing to eliminate sport programs and funding for the overrepresented sex (usually men’s teams).
• Increasing participation and funding opportunities for female student-athletes is another method.
• Roster management: Capping roster sizes of men’s teams while trying to increase women’s participation
• Case Study:
Biediger et al v. Quinnipiac University ,
2010

• Issue focused on college athletic director and coach hirings
• Annual Race and Gender Report Card (U. Central Florida) assesses the diversity and demographics of college athletics.
• In 2012, results indicated that 12.5% of FBS head coaches and 18.6% of Division I men’s basketball coaches were
African American. Division I men’s basketball results were the lowest percentage since 1995–1996.
• Results for women’s basketball teams were not much better, with African Americans comprising only 14% of coaches.
Women also represented only 8.2% of Division I athletic director positions, and 100% of FBS conference commissioners were white men.

• Debate on if college athletes should be paid rages on.
• Student-athletes help generate millions in revenue.
• Ed O’Bannon, a former basketball player at UCLA, filed suit in 2009 alleging that the NCAA, EA Sports, and the
Collegiate Licensing Co. are in violation of antitrust laws.
• The lawsuit seeks compensation for the use of players’ likenesses in EA Sports/NCAA-licensed video and was later amended to seek 50% of conferences’ TV revenues as well.
• Only 23 out of 228 Division I athletic programs showed a budgetary surplus in 2012.

• Sport management students and future athletic department employees need to be aware that intercollegiate athletics, as a major segment of the sport industry, are experiencing numerous organizational, managerial, financial, and legal issues.
• Future managers will need skills such as marketing expertise, strong public speaking and writing skills, creative and problem-solving abilities, and the ability to manage complex financial issues.