ABSTRACT
Intercollegiate athletics have been woven into the fabric of higher education in the United States since the 1850s. The complicated relationship between athletics and higher education continues to evolve to this day, under the influence of institutions, media, culture, and student-athletes themselves. The largest of the governing bodies, the NCAA, formed in 1906, and has grown in stature to become more or less synonymous with college sports today (Smith, 2011). While the NCAA lacked power to enforce rules or other norms of practice and play in its early years, its power and influence grew as its membership increased. Consequently, the NCAA developed into the United States’ premier governing body for college athletics in the 1950s, a full century after college athletics first surfaced at universities in the US. That dominance has persisted to this day in membership, competition, and the lucrative business side of athletics on broadcast and cable television. The NCAA, however, is not the only college sport governing body.
