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How did the NCAA form?

In order to understand the landscape of the NCAA today, it is important to understand how the NCAA was formed. Today, the NCAA reports their current governance extends to nearly 500,000 student-athletes, 19,750 teams, and 1,117 colleges. They also support 90 championships in 24 sports across three divisions. However, the NCAA's main role in regulation began with concern about the safety of the athletes in football. Perhaps most notably, the U.S. President at the time, Teddy Roosevelt, played a big role in developing the NCAA, and he was a huge proponent of amateur sports writing, "The mere statement of difference is enough to show that the amateur, and not the professional, is the desirable citizen, the man who should be encouraged." Click on each year in the timeline to learn more about important facts about each key date. A more thorough history of the NCAA and regulation can be found here.

1852

First intercollegiate athletic event

Harvard and Yale begin competing in rowing. One of the first events was sponsored by a high profile rail-line and Harvard attempted to compete with a coxswain who was not a college athlete - already that competition requires regulation.

There also already existed a concern over whether athletics was losing its academic moorings: the President of MIT said “if the movement shall continue at the same rate, it will soon be fairly a question whether the letters B.A. stand more for Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Athletics."

1906

Intercollegiate Athletic Assoication founded

Intercollegiate Athletic Association founded with 62 original members - this is a joint effort between the White House (President Theodore Roosevelt) and University Presidents spearheaded by NYU Chancellor Henry MacCracken.

It was clear the landscape was under-regulated especially relating to the safety of athletes. In 1905 alone there were over 18 deaths and 100 major injuries in intercollegiate football alone with less than 1/10 the number of schools playing football as there are today.

1910

Renamed National Collegiate Athletic Association

The IAA is renamed to the NCAA. The association did not yet play a major role in governing athletics, and instead focused on sponsoring national championships for sports. Realistically, the NCAA did not have the power to keep up with regulating the landscape.

Throughout the 1920s, intercollegiate athletics were becoming more and more integral to the experience of higher education. In 1929, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of College Athletics released a report declaring that commercialization is playing too large of a role in intercollegiate athletics which should be about “the opportunities it affords to mature youth.”

1948

"Sanity Code" and Constitutional Compliance Committee enacted

Sanity Code is enacted which banned off-campus recruiting, prohibited “subsidies and inducement” to athletes, and insisted that athletes meet a school’s “normal academic requirements.” The Constitutional Compliance Committee’s only enforcement capability was kicking a school out of the NCAA.

By 1950, 7 schools admitted breaking the rules (mostly giving athletic scholarships) daring the NCAA to toss them out but they were not voted out. In the aftermath, Walter Byers is put in charge of the NCAA and is the driving force behind making the NCAA “secretive, despotic, stubborn, ruthless, bureaucratic, and rules-driven lacking flexibility and empathy

1950s

First million dollar deal and increasing enforcement

NCAA enforcement increases annually as the NCAA becomes more powerful. The first contract valued over a million dollars is negotiated setting the stage for increasingly lucrative television contracts

1970s

Criticism over strict and unfair enforcement of rules grows

People begin to question the fairness of the NCAA’s enforcement and also the extent of power the NCAA yields. In response, the NCAA adopts changes in attempts to address concerns, but is unsuccessful in limiting complaints.

In 1978, the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation held hearings to investigate alleged unfairness.

University presidents are becoming more concerned with the NCAA’s power as they begin to realize the possible expense/revenue potential and also that their reputations are sometimes tied to the success of athletics.