History of College Sports

Catalog description

Student-controlled intercollegiate contests quickly transformed into big-time college sports by the early twentieth century, revolutionizing the sports industry in the United States as well as the landscape of higher education. The American college sports enterprise is unique; nowhere else in the world does a large, amateur, revenue-generating system of school sports exist. After an exploration of the origins of intercollegiate athletics and the creation of the modern National Collegiate Athletic Association, topics include integration, women's intercollegiate athletics, the big business of amateurism, and scandal. Video lectures, readings and films introduce students to these often controversial topics, grounding them in the historical record. Many of the current debates concerning college sports have been taking place for more than a century.