Executive Summary

NCAA/USOC Joint Task Force

The task force was established May 11, 2004, as a joint venture between the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). The task force completed its work over the course of a 12-month period, holding five in-person meetings. The group was chaired by Jack Swarbrick, an attorney with extensive experience working in both collegiate and Olympic sports.

Mission Statement:

The mission of the NCAA/USOC Task Force is to develop recommendations for implementation by the NCAA and USOC designed to protect and expand the opportunities for American athletes and coaches to realize the benefits associated with participation in collegiate athletic programs in sports traditionally included in the program for the Olympic Games.

List of Identified Sports:

Sports to be considered at risk were identified through a comprehensive analysis considering sports sponsored by both the NCAA and USOC and identifying sports that experienced meaningful loss of participation opportunities at NCAA institutions. Meaningful loss in participation opportunities was considered first by examining if a sport had experienced the elimination of at least 10 NCAA Division I programs during the last 15 years; the second step focused on analyzing whether the percentage of Division I member institutions sponsoring the sport had decreased during the 15-year period and in the third step the task force considered if a recent experience suggested programs were being dropped, the number of current programs relative to the number of programs in the sport during the 15-year period suggestions the sport is at risk and whether there was a measurable decrease in average squad size. Finally, the task force included emerging sports on the Olympic program as sports to be considered in the recommendations as well.

Women’s Sports	Men’s Sports
Archery	Cross Country
Badminton	Fencing
Gymnastics	Gymnastics
Rifle	Indoor Track
Synchronized Swimming	Outdoor Track
Team Handball	Rifle
	Soccer
	Swimming and Diving
	Tennis
	Volleyball
	Water Polo
	Wrestling

Task Force Recommendations:

1. The NCAA and USOC should jointly make an ongoing investment in (while also seeking the investment of others) a new independent charitable foundation for the purpose of fostering the sponsorship of Olympic sports by America’s colleges and universities. The foundation should be in place and operational early in 2006.

2. Establish a program to encourage the widespread adoption of a value statement for maintaining broad-based intercollegiate athletics programs in the United States.

3. Establish an electronic syndication system to identify and distribute to media outlets news and features related to the at-risk and emerging sports and the student-athletes and coaches who participate in them.

4. Support models for more effectively using at-risk and emerging sport programs to support:

a. Sport-specific community outreach;

b. The training of elite athletes in Olympic sports; and

c. Hosting of events (creating a presumption in favor of awarding events to university facilities whenever possible.

5. Conduct a survey of the NCAA membership to identify the preferred strategies to be implemented to control the costs associated with operating at-risk and emerging sports.

6. Consider modification to the NCAA amateurism, participation and competition rules to increase the likelihood some of the most accomplished athletes in at-risk and emerging sports continue to participate in collegiate athletics.

7. Work with the Olympic Sports Liaison Committee to develop a package of legislative proposals designed to protect and expand the opportunities for student-athletes to participate in at-risk and emerging sports.

8. Set numerical goals for maintaining and adding programs in at-risk sports, issue an annual report of the industry’s progress in furtherance of the goals and offer special recognition of those schools and National Governing Bodies who have most effectively contributed to the solutions.

Conclusion:

The very tangible consequences flowing from the elimination of sports caused the NCAA and USOC to take the unusual step of forming a task force with the main purpose of reversing the trend. There is no single solution to this issue, but the task force believes, taken as a whole, the recommendations in the report will make a difference, a difference that ensures future generations of student-athletes and coaches will continue to benefit from the participation in diverse athletics programs.