The NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report provides statistical information regarding participation and sponsorship in intercollegiate athletics at NCAA member institutions. This information provides a general view of historical trends in participation and sponsorship by gender, sport and division. Much of this information has been collected in detail since the 1981-82 academic year. This information is self-reported retroactively by all NCAA member institutions on an annual basis.
The student-athlete population grew by more than 5,000 between 2015-16 and 2016-17.
In 2016-17, just as in the past 10 years, the average NCAA member institution sponsored approximately 17 teams, eight for men and nine for women.
In 2016-17, the average NCAA member institution had approximately 445 student-athletes.
The number of men’s championship sport teams also has increased every year for the last 14 years and is at a record high in 2016-17.
A further breakdown of the race and ethnicity of student-athletes, coaches and institutional personnel is available in the NCAA demographics database.
For more information, please contact Erin Irick at eirick@ncaa.org