College athletics in the United States or college sports in the United States refers to university and college sport, athletic training and competition, organized and funded by US institutions of tertiary education (US universities and colleges) in a two-tiered system.Rosandich, Thomas. "Collegiate Sports Programs: A Comparative Analysis." page 476. Education, 2002.
The first tier includes the sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sports governing bodies. The major sanctioning organizations include the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). Individual sports not governed by umbrella organizations like the NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA are overseen by their own organizations, such as the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association, National Collegiate Boxing Association, USA Rugby, American College Cricket, National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association and Intercollegiate Rowing Association. Additionally, the first tier is characterized by selective participation since only the elite programs in their sport are able to participate; some colleges offer athletic scholarships to intercollegiate sports competitors. The second tier includes all intramural and recreational sports clubs, which are available to a larger portion of the student body. Competition between student clubs from different colleges, not organized by and therefore not representing the institutions or their faculties, may also be called "intercollegiate" athletics or simply college sports.
Unlike in the rest of the world, in the contemporary United States, many college sports are extremely popular on both regional and national scales, even competing with professional championships for prime-time broadcast, print coverage and for the top athletes. The average university sponsors at least twenty different sports and offers a wide variety of intramural sports as well. During the 2024-25 academic year, 554,298 student-athletes competed in NCAA championship sports, an all-time high and 15,368 more than in 2023-24; schools sponsored 19,928 teams in those sports. The largest collegiate sanctioning organization is the NCAA, and the sport that most schools participate in is basketball, with 2,197 men's and women's basketball teams at all levels. A close second is cross country (with 2,065 NCAA teams) and baseball/softball is third (1,952).
Principles for intercollegiate athletics include "gender equity, sportsmanship, and ethical conduct, sound academic standards, nondiscrimination, diversity within governance, rules compliance, amateurism, competitive equity, recruiting, eligibility, financial aid, playing and practice seasons, postseason competition and contests sponsored by noncollegiate organizations, and the economy of athletic program operations to ensure fair play and equality throughout all college athletic programs and associations."
Beginnings
College sports in the United States takes its origins from the early 19th century varsity matches between Oxford University and Cambridge University in England, where The University Match in cricket first took place in 1827, The Boat Race was first contested in 1829, and the first Inter-‘Varsity Sports, also called the Cambridge and Oxford Athletic Games, were held in 1864.
Organized college sports at university level began in the United States when Yale University founded its boat club in 1843.Lewis, Guy. "The Beginning of Organized Collegiate Sport." page 224. American Quarterly, 1970. Harvard University followed in their footsteps, establishing their boat club a year later. These boat clubs participated in rowing races called Regattas. The creation of these organizations set the stage for the first intercollegiate sporting event in the U.S. This event took place in 1852, when the rowing team from Yale competed against the rowing team from Harvard at Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. This marked the beginning of intercollegiate competition and was followed by the creation of numerous college athletic organizations. This historic race sparked the venerable rivalry between the two schools, and the Yale-Harvard Regatta is considered the cornerstone of intercollegiate athletic competition in the United States.
In the late 1840s, bat and ball games had started to become highly known and the sport of baseball was starting to become an establishment at U.S. universities. The first intercollegiate baseball game took place in 1859 between Amherst College and Williams College.Lewis, Guy. "The Beginning of Organized Collegiate Sport." page 228. American Quarterly, 1970. The popularity of collegiate baseball increased from this point, and by 1870, college teams were playing extensive schedules. In 1879, the first official intercollegiate baseball league was formed. The first intercollegiate cricket match took place in 1860 between Franklin & Marshall College and Millersville State Normal School. Track and field also grew in popularity during this time, and the first intercollegiate track and field event occurred in 1873. This competition featured a two-mile race between athletes from Amherst College, Cornell University, and McGill University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The first intercollegiate football (soccer) game between teams from Rutgers College (now Rutgers University) and the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) took place on November 6, 1869, at College Field (now the site of the College Avenue Gymnasium at Rutgers University) in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The first intercollegiate rugby football game took place on May 15, 1874, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, when Harvard played against McGill University.
Organization
In addition to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), there are other collegiate multi-sport athletic organizations, some of which also have hundreds of member schools. These include:
The California Community College Athletic Association or CCCAA, 107 members, over 25,000 athletes The National Junior College Athletic Association or NJCAA Division 1, 221 teams Division 2, 117 teams Division 3, 98 teams The National Christian College Athletic Association or NCCAA Division 1, 69 teams Division 2, 43 teams The National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association or NIRSA, more than 4,500 members The United States Collegiate Athletic Association or USCAA Division 1, 85 members Division 2, (basketball, men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics or NAIA, 251 members From 1992 to 2020, the NAIA was organized into Divisions I and II for men's and women's basketball only, distinguished from one another by scholarship policies (D-I schools had a higher limit on basketball scholarships, with some D-II schools awarding fewer scholarships ). In the final season of the divisional split (2019–20), roughly two-thirds of NAIA members were D-I. NAIA basketball returned to a single-division format after that season. The Northwest Athletic Conference or NWAC, 36 members (35 in the U.S. and 1 in the Canadian province of British Columbia)
There are a number of single sport-organizations, including leagues and conferences (see "List of college athletic conferences in the United States"), as well as governing bodies that sponsor collegiate championships (see "Intercollegiate sports team champions").
The role of intercollegiate athletics at U.S. universities
During the early 1840s, student-athletes contributed actively to all phases of administration and control.Peer Review Student athletes were involved in the sporting process, made athletic procedures and regulations for universities and also played an important role in determining which sporting events would and would not happen on universities. Today, the kind of involvement on the part of the athlete is virtually unheard of, with the only remnants of student participation in athlete administration being programs in which student governments have some control over the distribution of free allocations to athletics. Furthermore, this movement today focuses on the role of intercollegiate sports in the United States rather than the contributions of the student athlete.
Academic curriculum and requirements affect student athletes:
"When academic and athletic departments have conflicting aims, problems arise that affect the entire institution. American society values the elitism of academics and athletics in a manner that provokes conflict for participants in both domains. At various colleges, it is believed that academic elitism can be constructed on athletic elitism: Athletic teams aspire to be national champions, while their affiliate academic institutions seek national rankings. However, the means by which coaches and faculty achieve national reputations can create conflict for student athletes attempting to exist in both environments. Although both aspire to excel, the different measures of excellence for academics and athletics necessitates compromise by those who are placed in both settings." This policy, attempted by a large number of colleges, works for only a few.
College administrators have the challenge of balancing university values while maximizing the revenue generated by their athletic department. To maintain financial sustainability, several athletic directors have stated that the elimination of men's nonrevenue programs is the only way to balance their athletic budgets. Men's nonrevenue sport teams will likely be facing declining financial support in future generations.Peer Review
"Division I institutions are required to have seven athletic teams for men and seven for women (or six for men and eight for women). As well, there must be two team sports for each gender, and each gender must have a team in each of the three seasons (i. e., Fall, Winter, Spring). Excluding basketball and football, teams must play 100% of their minimum number of games against Division I opponents, and 50% of games above the minimum number must be played against Division I teams. Men's and women's basketball teams must play all but two of their contests against Division I opponents, and men must play at least one third of their games in their home arena. In Division I, football is further sectioned into FBS (NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision), and FCS (Football Championship Subdivision). FBS schools must play at least 60% of their games against other FBS opponents, and demonstrate their ability to attract a high level of spectatorship." Additionally, college football bowl eligibility rules mandate that only one win over an FCS team can be counted toward the six required for eligibility; this in turn means that FBS teams typically schedule at most one game against an FCS team in a given season.
Popularity and importance of intercollegiate athletics
College athletics has been popular since the 1920s and its popularity has increased as the games are being televised. Also, college sports are important both culturally and economically. Intercollegiate athletics creates a culturally and racially diverse setting for academics and athletics. Economically some schools are benefiting from their athletic programs through ticket sales, merchandise sales, and outside donations.
College sports in the United States is measured by the large number of universities that participate in more than 24 different NCAA sports. Even in the late 1980s, the average Division I program employed over 75 coaches, trainers, and administrative staff as full-time faculty to support their athletic programs.