Ncaa Essay, Research Paper

NCAA Division I, II, and III Membership Criteria

The NCAA is an organization that was established in 1906 to administer intercollegiate athletics. It enforces the rules for various sports and the eligibility criteria for athletes. The NCAA supervises athletic contests for about 80 national championships in about 20 sports per year. The NCAA has gone through some structural changes throughout the years. When the organization first started it had every team and conference on equal levels. It took a while but finally there was some long overdue changes made.

In 1973 the NCAA reorganized its membership structure so that it created three new classifications. These of which included Division I, II, and III. Each of these members represents a different level of competition. Every college was allowed to choose which division it wanted to belong to.

The members would decide which division they wanted to participate in based on their ability to meet the division s criteria. Each division holds its own championships. Also, in 1978 a football subdivision, Division I-AA was added and the women s championships became part of the NCAA program in 1981-82.

Division I which is the division with the most prestige has the most criteria objectives to meet. Members must first have at least seven men s teams and seven women s teams or at least six men s teams and eight women s teams. Each playing season (Fall, Winter, Spring) must be represented by both men s and women s teams. All games must be played against Div. I schools. Div. I-A or I-AA football schools are considered the more prominent programs. Div.I-A. teams have to meet minimum attendance requirements (17,000 people per home game or 20,000 average of all football games in the last four years or 30,000 permanent seats in their stadium and average 17,000 per home game or 20,000 average of all football games in the last four years or, be in a member conference in which at least six conference members sponsor football or more than half of football schools meet attendance criteria (NCAA online). Div. I-AA teams do not have to meet attendance requirements. Div. I schools must meet minimum financial aid awards for their programs and there are maximum awards that cannot be exceeded.

Division II- These programs must have at least have four sports for each gender participating. During each season. At least 50% of their games should be played against Div. II or higher programs. Also, like Div.I there are maximum financial awards for each sport. There is not any attendance requirements for football or basketball.

Division III- This level must also have at least four sports for both women and men s teams throughout each playing season. There are minimum contest and participant minimums for each sport. Teams must play at least 50% of all games against Div.III members that grant financial aid based on need only. Div.III does not award scholarships based on athletic ability- only on the basis of need.

Like I ve mentioned earlier there are some significant differences in the Divisions. There are also no minimums or maximums on the enrollment of an institution as it correlates to its membership. The institution controls its own fate as to what division it wants to participate in. Other facts are that Div. I and II schools can award athletic scholarships to players and the amount to each sport varies on the sport. Div. III on the other hand, does not distribute scholarships based on athletic ability. There are additional differences among the three divisions in other areas such as recruiting, academic eligibility, playing and practice limitations, awards and benefits, and scheduling.

In my opinion the development of the different divisions was a great move on the part of the NCAA. I think that it created an equal playing field for a majority of programs and provided every school an equal chance to win a championship. The separate divisions have created a major increase in intercollegiate sports. This has allowed for athletes of all kinds to find a place to continue their dream. As of Nov. of 2000 there was a total of 146,064 athletes participating in Division I sports, 78,050 competing in Division II, and 135.961 in Division III. These numbers bringing a total of 360,075 athletes competing in intercollegiate sports. These are very impressive numbers, which shows no signs of decline.