Everything You Need to Know About College Sport in the US
It’s not exactly news that sport’s a big deal in the US. It’s home to some of the world’s biggest and most watched events including the Super Bowl and the World Series of Baseball.
America is also a nation of sports fanatics with levels of fandom exceeding many other countries in the world.
So it also comes as no surprise that throughout its colleges a great deal of emphasis is placed on sports too. At one level it’s giving students the chance to be physically active, whether on the track, football field or baseball court. At a higher level, it’s preparing the professional athletes of the future.
Indeed, for many colleges it is treated as a professional sport with games being televised and team coaches being paid seven and eight figure salaries.
Who’s in charge?
Many of the organizations in charge of college sports have existed in one form or another for as long as many of the professional sports leagues themselves.
At the top of the tree is the National College Athletic Association. This is split into three divisions. Division 1 tends to cover the largest schools including names like UCLA, Duke and Michigan where the budgets are huge and the facilities world-class. Smaller schools are in Division 2 and the lowest level, Division 3, has the smallest budget but serves the largest number of students – around 170,000 at last count.
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is the oldest of the official bodies having been established in 1937 while the National Junior College Athletic Association is primarily involved in Community Colleges.
The role of sport in college
While it can seem like college sport is run along business lines, its role is far more important than this.
Most colleges see it as an integral part of their identity and one in which students can take great pride. This is as true of the ones that turn up to cheer on their team as it is for the participants themselves.
It also plays an important social role, bringing people together especially at so-called tailgating parties that often take place in the parking lot after the conclusion of a game.
Above all, college sports, especially at the highest level, are exciting and involving to watch – made even more exciting if fans decide to also place a bet or two on the outcome.
Since the legalization of sports betting by the Supreme Courtin 2018 this is an activity that has really taken off. As a result, betting on college sports is a fast-growing activity with many people taking advantage of promotions available at Fanduel sportsbook to back their alma maters.
A source of great rivalry
Being so woven into the traditions of the colleges, it’s not surprising that there are also a number of long-standing rivalries and traditions in college sport. For example, Indiana v Purdue has, in the past, spilled over into near warfare and in a recent Alabama v Tennessee encounter on the football field the goalposts were brought down and thrown in the river.
There are other, less disruptive, traditions too. So at the University of New Hampshire hockey matches fans throw dead fish onto the ice when the opposition scores. And, for some reason, it’s the custom at John Hopkins to wave bananas in the stands at lacrosse games.
The route to the top
While some other countries do offer them, the US college system undoubtedly led the way with athletic scholarships. In these, talented and gifted prospects will have all or a proportion of their college fees paid for them, allowing them to both complete their academic studies and hone their sporting abilities.
Contrary to what some believe, these students do need to maintain a high level of academic achievement as there’s always a need for a Plan B in case their sporting ambitions fail to materialize.
But for the lucky and super talented they will be picked up by their chosen sport’s draft system and enter the professional world on graduating from college.
The big events
Many of these sportspeople will find themselves caught up in one of the season’s showpieces for college sport. For football this is the Rose Bowl, a game played in Pasadena on January 1st each year and for which ESPN pays $80 million a year to broadcast.
In college basketball it’s March Madness that captures the nation’s attention. This knock-out competition takes place over several weeks culminating in a final at the end of which the winning team ceremonially cut down the nets while “One Shining Moment” by Luther Vandross plays out in the background.
So as you can see, sport plays a unique role in the US college world – and as time goes on its importance is sure to grow even more.
