What Makes the NCAA so Successful?

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The National Collegiate Athletics Association is the top organization body for student Athletes welfare in the United States.

According to Wikipedia:

It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and helps over 480,000 college student-athletes who compete annually in college sports.

I followed the 2021 Track and Field Finals event organized by the NCAA and I was nothing short of impressed by the quality of athletes on display. We had Athletes posting World leading times such as the 43.85 ran by Randolph Ross to win the men's 400m, a time that would have been good to win most World championships and Olympic games in the past.

From Athletics to basketball, baseball, football and a host of other sports the quality of World class Athletes produced and concentrated in a single system is unrivaled anywhere in the World. What's more, the background of talents are diversified and come from a variety of countries, states and communities. Why then is the body so successful in producing World class athletes?

Funding

The simple, immediate answer is the sheer amount of resources available at their disposal. In 2016 the NCAA generated over one Billion Dollars in Revenue, with the bulk of it coming from Men's basketball Television rights. When funding is not an issue and Student Athletes can benefit from their scholarship offers without having to stress over college tuition and debts, they are better poised to perform at optimal levels.

What's more, some of these student athletes also generate significant revenues for their individual schools through their performances. The total revenue generated in all schools in 2019 for instance was in excess of $18billion, also largely from broadcast rights. This immense revenue - bigger than the budgets of many countries ensures students get access to the right equipment, coaching and welfare packages while the Universities benefit.

The NCAA has not been without its criticisms though, largely bothering on student-Athlete welfare as they are not paid and are not allowed to receive payments while under the scholarship agreement with the NCAA. This has generated a lot of outcry particularly for basketball players who bring the bulk of revenue.

To replicate a system like the NCAA might be almost impossible in other countries owing to varying nature of their economies and financial capacities. Still, it may be possible to achieve some degree of success by copying the commercialization model of their system and increasing the platform for student athletes.



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