"I know it when I see it."
Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart on obscenity and pornography (1964)
When you think of “college sports” do you think you “know it when you see it”? When you think of professional sports “do you know it when you see it”? Does the following clip look like “college sports” or “professional sports”?
At the same time that the biggest of the big NCAA revenue producing sports like power four conference football and NCAA DI men’s and women’s basketball resemble professional sports more and more and in every way, non-NCAA “club” sports are beginning to resemble the remainder of NCAA sports each year.
Although the majority of the vast landscape of “college sports” goes unseen to the masses, the majority of “college sports” being played are not what most of us see. The largest attention receiving NCAA college sports are not going anywhere, but where the rest of “college sports” is headed is a different story.
Here are five trends that point toward “club sports” increasingly occupying the same space as NCAA DII/III, NAIA and even some NCAA DI sports in terms of resources, attention and institutional support in the coming years.
#1 NON-NCAA SPORTS GROWING
Some sports have never been NCAA sports. Rowing and rugby pre-date the creation of NCAA, so men’s rowing and rugby have in many cases been institutionally funded, administered by college athletic departments and considered “varsity” for the sake of their university. The NCAA is not likely to try to add men’s rowing or men’s rugby anytime soon and therefore these non-NCAA varsity programs will continue to operate as they always have.
Other sports that are not NCAA sanctioned sports continue to grow at the youth levels and athletes will continue to seek out places to compete. Many of these sports like climbing, cycling, martial arts, powerlifting, triathlon and others are Olympic sports although they are not NCAA sports. Others are not Olympic sports but continue to grow rapidly like pickleball, flag football and ultimate frisbee. These sports continue to sprout up on campuses with varying amounts of support.
The language that characterizes the distinctions of these non-NCAA sports does not revolve so much around NCAA or DI, DII or DIII but whether the school characterizes the program as “varsity” or “intercollegiate”.
#2 NCAA ATHLETIC DEPARTMENTS NOT ADDING OR UPGRADING PROGRAMS
Many of today’s NCAA athletics programs began as college club teams that saw success on the field and with community support and would eventually be recognized and supported by their university as an NCAA sport. Programs like Michigan men’s soccer or Penn State women’s hockey or Arizona men’s hockey caught the eye of decision makers after years of success and energy behind their club programs. A few, including these mentioned here, have had immediate success at the NCAA level. Most smaller or more regional colleges that have tried to make this jump from club to NCAA DI at have not fared so well. As of 2025, adding programs to NCAA athletic departments has slowed to a trickle especially since the pandemic and especially on the men’s side.
#3 LONGSTANDING CLUBS NOT GOING NCAA BUT GETTING BETTER EACH YEAR
Some intercollegiate club sports have been around a long time. In fact many club programs today, if they began “late” in the 1970s, 80s or 90s are now 30, 40 or 50 years old. Even if they were never granted NCAA status by their university, they have deep alumni roots and their youth levels have grown underneath them sending them more talented athletes each year. Club programs, particularly on the men’s side, continue to forge ahead with no NCAA status in sight, but continue to increase competitiveness, resources and a growing base of alumni. Programs like Ohio University men’s hockey, University of Rhode Island men’s and women’s hockey, Delaware men’s hockey, Naval Academy men’s and women’s hockey all have rinks on campus and club teams that date back to the 1970s if not before. University of Texas men’s soccer has been playing since 1964 and Texas’s men’s lacrosse has been going at it since 1973 and has since built its own lacrosse specific facility. Don’t expect these programs to go NCAA, but expect them to continue to “look and feel” just like NCAA programs.
#4 FORMER NCAA PROGRAMS BEING REINVENTED AS CLUBS
Some athletics programs, again, primarily on the men’s side, have seen brief stints in NCAA, but have been declassified to “club” or “non-NCAA” levels and have thrived in that format. UConn men’s lacrosse, Boston College men’s lacrosse and Michigan State men’s lacrosse have all seen their days as NCAA programs but returned to “club” levels and continue to grow and thrive. BYU men’s soccer has done the same. All of these programs are as well organized as they were when they were NCAA programs and continue to benefit from a growing stream of talent looking for places to play. One the women’s side, there are not strong examples of programs reinventing themselves as clubs after being cut or declassified. University of North Dakota women’s hockey was cut in 2017 and has not re-emerged in club form and many men’s and women’s swimming programs have been cut and they have generally not reemerged as strong club programs.
#5 COLLEGES WHOLESALE CUTTING OR DECLASSIFYING ATHLETIC PROGRAMS
One reason that “club” sports might see an uptick in participation and status is colleges deliberately choosing to cut ALL NCAA sports or “declassify”. Recently Bryn Athyn College announced it would cut its ENTIRE NCAA DIII athletic department. I would predict that some club sports programming takes its place. University of Hartford also recently declassified its entire NCAA DI athletic department to NCAA DIII. A vacuum is created and non-NCAA “club” level programs are likely to fill it.
BONUS #6 THE EXCEPTIONS – CLUBS BEING PROMOTED TO NCAA STATUS
There are some club programs that had long histories as clubs who were recognized by their universities and boosted to NCAA status. Arizona State and Penn State men’s hockey had decades of club success and support and were eventually boosted to NCAA status. Michigan men’s soccer and lacrosse were perennial club powers that were also brought into the NCAA fold in recent years. On the women’s side, Penn State women’s hockey, Michigan women’s lacrosse and BU women’s hockey had strong club teams that were made into NCAA programs.
There is still some “low hanging fruit” for big enough universities to convert non-NCAA club teams into NCAA programs in sports where they are not yet sponsored, particularly on the women’s side, but growth and change is happening much faster at the college club levels.
IN THE NEXT POST…
In the next post we’ll look at colleges that are intentionally choosing to support their intercollegiate club teams in other ways besides upgrading to NCAA levels. Is there are college program that you know of or follow that is not an NCAA program? What is it?
Here is a quiz to test your knowledge of college sports…
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