U.S. Bank Arena
U. S. Bank Arena is an indoor arena located in downtown Cincinnati, along the banks of the Ohio River, next to the Great American Ball Park, it was completed in September 1975 and named Riverfront Coliseum because of its placement next to Riverfront Stadium. The arena seats 17,556 people and is the largest indoor arena in the Greater Cincinnati region with 346,100 square feet of space; the arena underwent a $14 million renovation project in 1997. The current main tenant is the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL; the arena was the home of the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association from 1975 to 1979. Since the arena has hosted two minor league hockey teams and various concerts, political rallies, tennis tournaments, figure skating, professional wrestling, traveling circus and rodeo shows, other events. U. S. Bank Arena served as a host for the Midwest Regional of the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament with Miami University as the host school; the facility's longest-serving tenant was the Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball program of the University of Cincinnati, who used the arena from its completion until 1987, when the team moved to Cincinnati Gardens and to the on-campus Fifth Third Arena.
Until the opening of Fifth Third Arena at the University of Cincinnati and BB&T Arena at Northern Kentucky University, commencement ceremonies for these schools were held at U. S. Bank Arena. On occasion, there have been local pushes for the attraction of another major sports franchise to occupy the arena a National Basketball Association or National Hockey League franchise; the Cincinnati Royals moved to Kansas City - Omaha in 1972, were the last NBA team to call Cincinnati home. The NBA Cleveland Cavaliers have played preseason games at U. S. Bank Arena. Brian and Albert Heekin Cincinnati Entertainment Associates Nederlander Entertainment Anschutz Entertainment Group On December 3, 1979, 11 teenagers and young adults were killed by compressive asphyxia and 26 other people were injured in a rush for seating at the opening of a sold-out rock concert by the English rock band The Who. On that evening, there were a total of 18,348 ticketed fans attending, which included 14,770 in general admission seats.
The concert was using festival seating, where seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. When the waiting fans outside the Coliseum heard the band performing a late sound check, they thought that the concert was beginning and tried to rush into the still-closed doors; some at the front of the crowd were either trampled or squeezed to death standing up as those pushing from behind were unaware that the doors were still closed. Only a few doors were in operation that night, there are reports that management did not open more doors due to union restrictions and the concern of people gate-crashing the ticket turnstiles; as a result, the remaining concerts of 1979, Blue Öyster Cult on December 14 and Aerosmith on December 21, were canceled and concert venues across North America switched to reserved seating or changed their rules about festival seating. Cincinnati outlawed festival seating at concerts. After establishment of a crowd control task force by Cincinnati mayor Ken Blackwell, the first concert held at the facility after the tragedy was ZZ Top with the Rockets on March 21, 1980, on ZZ Top's Expect No Quarter Tour.
On August 4, 2004, the Cincinnati City Council unanimously overturned the ban because it placed the city at a disadvantage for booking concerts. Many music acts prefer festival seating because it can allow the most enthusiastic fans to get near the stage and generate excitement for the rest of the crowd; the city had made a one-time exception to the ban, allowing festival seating for a Bruce Springsteen concert on November 12, 2002. Cincinnati was, for a time, the only city in the United States to outlaw festival seating altogether; the first entertainment event to be staged at the facility was a rock concert by The Allman Brothers Band and special guest Muddy Waters on the Win, Lose Or Draw Tour on September 9, 1975, attended by 16,721 persons. On June 25, 1977, Elvis Presley gave his second-to-last concert in the Riverfront Coliseum. In 1979, The Bee Gees played two sold-out shows there during their Spirits Having Flown Tour. In 1987, the facility hosted the World Figure Skating Championships.
The arena was the site of the Regional of the 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and 1987 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, as well as a first and second round site for the 1988 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and the 1992 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. The arena was host to the 1997 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship Final Four, as well as the 1996 men's Division I hockey Frozen Four, won by Michigan. In 2017, the site will host the NCAA Division 1 Ice Hockey Midwest Regional, where Denver University, Penn State, Michigan Tech, will play for a spot in the 2017 Frozen Four; the venue hosted part of the 1981 and all of the 1992 Horizon League men's basketball conference tournament as well as the 1978 and 1983 Metro Conference and the 2002 and 2004 Conference USA men's basketball tournaments. The arena hosted two major professional wrestling pay-per-view events: World Championship Wrestling's Souled Out in 2000 and WWE's Cyber Sunday in 2006.
UFC 77 was held at the arena on October 20, 2007, was headlined by local fighter Rich Franklin. The UFC returned to the arena for the second time on May 10, 2014, with UFC Fight Night: Brown vs. Silva; the Strikeforce World Grand Prix: Barnett vs. Kharitonov event
Seating capacity
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people; the largest sporting venue in the world, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has a permanent seating capacity for more than 235,000 people and infield seating that raises capacity to an approximate 400,000. Safety is a primary concern in determining the seating capacity of a venue: "Seating capacity, seating layouts and densities are dictated by legal requirements for the safe evacuation of the occupants in the event of fire"; the International Building Code specifies, "In places of assembly, the seats shall be securely fastened to the floor" but provides exceptions if the total number of seats is fewer than 100, if there is a substantial amount of space available between seats or if the seats are at tables.
It delineates the number of available exits for interior balconies and galleries based on the seating capacity, sets forth the number of required wheelchair spaces in a table derived from the seating capacity of the space. The International Fire Code, portions of which have been adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction, it specifies, "For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms, the occupant load shall not be less than the number of seats based on one person for each 18 inches of seating length". It requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including "details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating...."Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the total size of the venue, its purpose. For sports venues, the "decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors. Chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area".
In motion picture venues, the "limit of seating capacity is determined by the maximal viewing distance for a given size of screen", with image quality for closer viewers declining as the screen is expanded to accommodate more distant viewers. Seating capacity of venues plays a role in what media they are able to provide and how they are able to provide it. In contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the "seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed". Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be the royalties to be given; the seating capacity must be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums advertise their seating capacity. Seating capacity is an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas; when entities such as the National Football League's Super Bowl Committee decide on a venue for a particular event, seating capacity, which reflects the possible number of tickets that can be sold for the event, is an important consideration.
The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as'covers'. Seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Where seating capacity is a legal requirement, however, as it is in movie theatres and on aircraft, the law reflects the fact that the number of people allowed in should not exceed the number who can be seated. Use of the term "public capacity" indicates that a venue is allowed to hold more people than it can seat. Again, the maximum total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law. All-seater stadium List of stadiums by capacity List of football stadiums by capacity List of American football stadiums by capacity List of rugby league stadiums by capacity List of rugby union stadiums by capacity List of tennis stadiums by capacity Seating assignment
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League. Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the league has an affiliation agreement with one NHL team; when NHL teams do not have an AHL affiliate, players are assigned to AHL teams affiliated with other NHL teams. Twenty-seven AHL teams are located in the United States and the remaining four are in Canada; the league offices are located in Springfield and its current president is David Andrews. In general, a player must be at least 18 years of age to play in the AHL or not be beholden to a junior ice hockey team; the league limits the number of experienced professional players on a team's active roster during any given game. The AHL allows for practice squad contracts; the annual playoff champion is awarded the Calder Cup, named for Frank Calder, the first President of the NHL. The reigning champions are the Toronto Marlies.
The AHL traces its origins directly to two predecessor professional leagues: the Canadian-American Hockey League, founded in 1926, the first International Hockey League, established in 1929. Although the Can-Am League never operated with more than six teams, the departure of the Boston Bruin Cubs after the 1935–36 season reduced it down to just four member clubs – the Springfield Indians, Philadelphia Ramblers, Providence Reds, New Haven Eagles – for the first time in its history. At the same time, the then-rival IHL lost half of its eight members after the 1935–36 season leaving it with just four member teams: the Buffalo Bisons, Syracuse Stars, Pittsburgh Hornets, Cleveland Falcons. With both leagues down to the bare minimum in membership, the governors of each recognized the need for action to assure their member clubs' long-term survival, their solution was to play an interlocking schedule. While the Can-Am League was based in the Northeast and the IHL in the Great Lakes, their footprints were close enough for this to be a viable option.
The two older leagues' eight surviving clubs began joint play in November 1936 as a new two-division "circuit of mutual convenience" known as the International-American Hockey League. The four Can-Am teams became the I-AHL East Division, with the IHL quartet playing as the West Division; the IHL contributed its former championship trophy, the F. G. "Teddy" Oke Trophy, which would go to the regular-season winners of the merged league's West Division until 1952. The Oke Trophy is now awarded to the regular-season winners of the AHL's Northeast Division. A little more than a month into that first season, the balance and symmetry of the new combined circuit suffered a setback when its membership unexpectedly fell to seven teams; the West's Buffalo Bisons were forced to cease operations on December 6, 1936, after playing just 11 games, because of what proved to be insurmountable financial problems and lack of access to a suitable arena. The makeshift new I-AHL played out the rest of its first season with just seven teams.
At the end of the 1936–37 season, a modified three-round playoff format was devised and a new championship trophy, the Calder Cup, was established. The Syracuse Stars defeated the Philadelphia Ramblers in the final, three-games-to-one, to win the first-ever Calder Cup championship; the Calder Cup continues on today as the AHL's playoff championship trophy. After two seasons of interlocking play, the governors of the two leagues' seven active teams met in New York City on June 28, 1938, agreed that it was time to formally consolidate. Maurice Podoloff of New Haven, the former head of the Can-Am League, was elected the I-AHL's first president; the former IHL president, John Chick of Windsor, became vice-president in charge of officials. The new I-AHL added an eighth franchise at the 1938 meeting to fill the void in its membership left by the loss of Buffalo two years earlier with the admission of the two-time defending Eastern Amateur Hockey League champion Hershey Bears; the Bears remain the only one of these eight original I-AHL/AHL franchises to have been represented in the league without interruption since the 1938–39 season.
The newly merged circuit increased its regular-season schedule for each team by six games from 48 to 54. After the 1939–40 season the I-AHL renamed itself the American Hockey League, it enjoyed both consistent success on the ice and relative financial stability over its first three decades of operation. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the cost of doing business in professional ice hockey began to rise with NHL expansion and relocation and the 1972 formation of the World Hockey Association, which forced the relocation and subsequent folding of the Cleveland Barons, Baltimore Clippers, Quebec Aces; the number of major-league teams competing for players rose from six to thirty in just seven years. Player salaries at all levels shot up with the increased demand and competition for their services; this did not seem to affect the AHL at first, as it expanded to 12 teams by 1970. However, to help compensate for the rise in player salaries, many NHL clubs cut back on the number of p
Clint Smith
Clinton James "Snuffy" Smith was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and head coach best known for his time spent in the National Hockey League as a player with the New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks. Following Smith's 10-year NHL career, he served as both a head coach and player in the United States Hockey League and American Hockey League. Prior to beginning his NHL career with the New York Rangers in 1936–37, Smith played in several minor professional leagues. After splitting his first professional season in 1932–33 with the Springfield Indians of the Canadian-American Hockey League and Saskatoon Crescents of the West Coast Hockey League, Smith moved further west to play for the Vancouver Lions of the North West Hockey League, where he led the league in scoring with 25 goals in his rookie year, he went on to lead the league in points the next two seasons with 44- and 53-point campaigns. In 1936–37, Smith joined the International-American Hockey League, precursor to the American Hockey League, finished second in league scoring to Jack Markle with 54 points as a member of the Philadelphia Ramblers.
He helped lead his team to the Finals of the inaugural Calder Cup championship, but lost to the Syracuse Stars in four games of what was a five-game series. Smith began his NHL career with the Rangers with a short 2-game stint in 1936–37, during which he notched his first NHL career goal, he became an integral player on the Rangers roster, leading the team in scoring in his second full NHL season in 1938–39 with 41 points. Going the length of the campaign with just one minor penalty, he was awarded the Lady Byng Trophy, his first of two in his career; the following season, he helped lead the Rangers to the Stanley Cup championship, defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games. Despite winning the Stanley Cup that year, Smith's production began to tail off with the Rangers, scoring only 24 points that championship year. Despite improving to 33 points in 1942–43, Smith ended his 6-year tenure with the Rangers following that season. Joining the Chicago Black Hawks in 1943–44, Smith rejuvenated his career playing on a line with future fellow Hockey Hall of Famers, Bill Mosienko and Doug Bentley.
He recorded 23 goals and established an NHL record for single-season assists with 49 for an NHL career-high 72 points. The combined total of Mosienko and Smith's points that season set an NHL record for a line with 219. Smith's record-setting season was complemented by a second Lady Byng Trophy, having only accumulated 4 penalty minutes; the following season, in 1944–45, Smith succeeded Bentley Smith set another NHL record with a four-goal period against the Montreal Canadiens on March 4, 1945. The remainder of Smith's four-season stay in Chicago was not met with as much offensive success as his initial campaign with the team, but he did, record three straight 20-goal seasons, including a personal best 26-goal season in 1945–46. After his production dipped to 26 points in 1946–47, he retired from the NHL. Smith returned to the minor leagues in 1947–48, joining the short-lived United States Hockey League with the Tulsa Oilers, he led Tulsa in scoring with 71 points in his only season while serving as the team's head coach.
Finishing in the top ten in league scoring, he won the Herman W. Paterson Cup as league MVP; the following season, he did double duty playing and coaching in St. Paul Saints, where he played for three seasons. In 1951–52, Smith joined the Cincinnati Mohawks of the AHL, coaching them to the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs and playing in a limited role, appearing in just 2 games. Smith retired following his one-season stint with the Mohawks both as player. Following Smith's retirement, he returned to Vancouver, where he had competed in the NWHL to play oldtimers hockey, he made his residence there and became a founding member of the British Columbia Hockey Benevolent Association known as the Canucks Alumni, at one point held the position of president. Thirty-nine years following his professional retirement, Smith was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991. At the time of his death on June 15, 2008, Ray Getliffe, a left winger who played for the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens was said to be the oldest living person to have played in the NHL.
It was reported that Smith was the oldest living person to have played in the NHL. Both these reports, overlooked players who had only played a limited number of games, such as Louis Holmes and Al Suomi. Getliffe, who died at the age of 94, was just several months younger than Smith at the time of his death, while Holmes and Suomi were 97 and 95 at that time. On May 19, 2009, Smith died at the age of 95, leaving Suomi as the oldest living NHL player, at the current age of 99, he was the last surviving member of Rangers 1940 Stanley Cup team. In 2009, Smith was ranked No. 35 on the all-time list of New York Rangers in the book 100 Ranger Greats. Won the Lady Byng Trophy in 1939 and 1944. Won a Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers in 1940. Won the Herman W. Paterson Cup as USHL MVP in 1948. In 2009, Smith was ranked No. 35 on the all-time list of New York Rangers in the book 100 Ranger Greats. Captain Biographical information and career statistics from Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database "Hall of Famer Clint Smith dies at age 95," New York Rangers, May 21, 2009.
Goldstein, Richard. "Clint Smith, Who Won T
Indianapolis
Indianapolis shortened to Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U. S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to 2017 estimates from the U. S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion County was 872,680; the "balance" population, which excludes semi-autonomous municipalities in Marion County, was 863,002. It is the 16th most populous city in the U. S; the Indianapolis metropolitan area is the 34th most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U. S. with 2,028,614 residents. Its combined statistical area ranks 27th, with a population of 2,411,086. Indianapolis covers 368 square miles, making it the 16th largest city by land area in the U. S. Indigenous peoples inhabited the area dating to 2000 BC. In 1818, the Delaware relinquished their tribal lands in the Treaty of St. Mary's. In 1821, Indianapolis was founded as a planned city for the new seat of Indiana's state government; the city was platted by Alexander Ralston and Elias Pym Fordham on a 1 square mile grid next to the White River.
Completion of the National and Michigan roads and arrival of rail solidified the city's position as a manufacturing and transportation hub. Two of the city's nicknames reflect its historical ties to transportation—the "Crossroads of America" and "Railroad City". Since the 1970 city-county consolidation, known as Unigov, local government administration operates under the direction of an elected 25-member city-county council headed by the mayor. Indianapolis anchors the 27th largest economic region in the U. S. based on the sectors of finance and insurance, manufacturing and business services and health care and wholesale trade. The city has notable niche markets in auto racing; the Fortune 500 companies of Anthem, Eli Lilly and Company and Simon Property Group are headquartered in Indianapolis. The city has hosted international multi-sport events, such as the 1987 Pan American Games and 2001 World Police and Fire Games, but is best known for annually hosting the world's largest single-day sporting event, the Indianapolis 500.
Indianapolis is home to two major league sports clubs, the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. It is home to a number of educational institutions, such as the University of Indianapolis, Butler University, Marian University, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis; the city's robust philanthropic community has supported several cultural assets, including the world's largest children's museum, one of the nation's largest funded zoos, historic buildings and sites, public art. The city is home to the largest collection of monuments dedicated to veterans and war casualties in the U. S. outside of Washington, D. C; the name Indianapolis is derived from the state's name and polis, the Greek word for city. Jeremiah Sullivan, justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, is credited with coining the name. Other names considered were Concord and Tecumseh. In 1816, the year Indiana gained statehood, the U. S. Congress donated four sections of federal land to establish a permanent seat of state government.
Two years under the Treaty of St. Mary's, the Delaware relinquished title to their tribal lands in central Indiana, agreeing to leave the area by 1821; this tract of land, called the New Purchase, included the site selected for the new state capital in 1820. The availability of new federal lands for purchase in central Indiana attracted settlers, many of them descendants of families from northwestern Europe. Although many of these first European and American settlers were Protestants, a large proportion of the early Irish and German immigrants were Catholics. Few African Americans lived in central Indiana before 1840; the first European Americans to permanently settle in the area that became Indianapolis were either the McCormick or Pogue families. The McCormicks are considered to be the first permanent settlers. Other historians have argued as early as 1822 that John Wesley McCormick, his family, employees became the area's first European American settlers, settling near the White River in February 1820.
On January 11, 1820, the Indiana General Assembly authorized a committee to select a site in central Indiana for the new state capital. The state legislature approved the site, adopting the name Indianapolis on January 6, 1821. In April, Alexander Ralston and Elias Pym Fordham were appointed to survey and design a town plan for the new settlement. Indianapolis became a seat of county government on December 31, 1821, when Marion County, was established. A combined county and town government continued until 1832. Indianapolis became an incorporated city effective March 30, 1847. Samuel Henderson, the city's first mayor, led the new city government, which included a seven-member city council. In 1853, voters approved a new city charter that provided for an elected mayor and a fourteen-member city council; the city charter continued to be revised. Effective January 1, 1825, the seat of state government moved to Indianapolis from Indiana. In addition to state government offices, a U. S. district court was established at Indianapolis in 1825.
Growth occurred with the opening of the National Road through the town in 1827, the first major federally funded highway in the United States. A small segment of the failed Indiana Central
Cincinnati Mighty Ducks
The Cincinnati Mighty Ducks were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Cincinnati, United States, at the Cincinnati Gardens. For their existence they were the affiliate of the National Hockey League teams, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Detroit Red Wings; the Baltimore Bandits moved to Cincinnati from minimal fiscal success. The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim signed Cincinnati a five-year affiliate agreement; the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were their only affiliate until 1999, when the Adirondack Red Wings folded and the Detroit Red Wings were trying to find an affiliate and couldn't find one. The Mighty Ducks signed the Detroit Red Wings a three-year agreement until the 2002-03 season. In 2002 the Grand Rapids Griffins tried to find an affiliate since the Ottawa Senators signed with Binghamton; the Detroit Red Wings left the Mighty Ducks and became the Griffins affiliate since Grand Rapids is only three hours away from Detroit. But the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim signed Cincinnati another three year affiliate agreement so it wouldn't fold.
The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim stayed with the Mighty Ducks until the 2005-06 season. The Cincinnati Mighty Ducks were granted a voluntary suspension for the 2005–06 season after the Mighty Ducks left Cincinnati and signed a new agreement with the Portland Pirates, respectively. In October 2005 the team was renamed the Cincinnati RailRaiders, they were seeking an affiliation agreement for a return in 2006-07 season, but failed to reach a goal of 2,000 season tickets sold to become re-active. On October 3, 2006, it was reported that a Windsor, based company had been granted conditional approval to purchase and relocate the team, however that deal fell through. On March 19, 2007, the AHL announced that the team had been purchased, moved to Rockford, Illinois, to become the Rockford IceHogs. Numerous former Cincinnati Mighty Ducks were all together with Anaheim when they won the Stanley Cup in 2007. In addition, former coach Mike Babcock led Anaheim to a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2003 before moving to Detroit.
The market was served by: Cincinnati Mohawks Cincinnati Wings Cincinnati Swords Cincinnati Stingers Cincinnati Tigers Cincinnati Cyclones The team was replaced in this market by: Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL Affiliates Mighty Ducks Of Anaheim Detroit Red Wings Sean Avery Mike Babcock Tim Brent Sheldon Brookbank Ilya Bryzgalov Dan Bylsma Marc Chouinard Mike Commodore Matt Cullen Kurtis Foster Ryan Getzlaf Jean-Sebastien Giguere Curtis Glencross Zenon Konopka Tomas Kopecky Chris Kunitz Maxim Kuznetsov Joffrey Lupul Tony Martensson Andy McDonald Shane O'Brien Samuel Pahlsson Pierre-Alexandr Parenteau Richard Park Dustin Penner Corey Perry Ruslan Salei Bob Wren Goals: 42 Bob Wren Assists: 59 Craig Reichert Points: 100 Bob Wren Penalty minutes: 319 Shane O'Brien GAA: 2.07 Frederic Cassivi SV%:.924 Frederic Cassivi Career goals: 113 Bob Wren Career assists: 186 Bob Wren Career points: 299 Bob Wren Career penalty minutes: 482 Shane O'Brien Career goaltending wins: 76 Ilya Bryzgalov Career shutouts: 19 Ilya Bryzgalov Career games: 277 Bob Wren The Internet Hockey Database - Cincinnati Mighty Ducks SCSR / Cincinnati Mighty Ducks
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a non-profit organization which regulates athletes of 1,268 North American institutions and conferences. It organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, helps more than 480,000 college student-athletes who compete annually in college sports; the organization is headquartered in Indiana. In its 2016–17 fiscal year the NCAA took in $1.06 billion in revenue, over 82% of, generated by the Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. In August 1973, the current three-division system of Division I, Division II, Division III was adopted by the NCAA membership in a special convention. Under NCAA rules, Division I and Division II schools can offer scholarships to athletes for playing a sport. Division III schools may not offer any athletic scholarships. Larger schools compete in Division I and smaller schools in II and III. Division I football was further divided into I-A and I-AA in 1978. Subsequently, the term "Division I-AAA" was added to delineate Division I schools which do not field a football program at all, but that term is no longer used by the NCAA.
In 2006, Divisions I-A and I-AA were renamed the Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision. Controversially, the NCAA caps the benefits that collegiate athletes can receive from their schools. There is a consensus among economists that these caps for men's basketball and football players benefit the athletes' schools at the expense of athletes. Intercollegiate sports began in the US in 1852 when crews from Harvard and Yale universities met in a challenge race in the sport of rowing; as rowing remained the preeminent sport in the country into the late-1800s, many of the initial debates about collegiate athletic eligibility and purpose were settled through organizations like the Rowing Association of American Colleges and the Intercollegiate Rowing Association. As other sports emerged, notably football and basketball, many of these same concepts and standards were adopted. Football, in particular, began to emerge as a marquee sport, but the rules of the game itself were in constant flux and had to be adapted for each contest.
The NCAA dates its formation to two White House conferences convened by President Theodore Roosevelt in the early 20th century in response to repeated injuries and deaths in college football which had "prompted many college and universities to discontinue the sport." Following those White House meetings and the reforms which had resulted, Chancellor Henry MacCracken of New York University organized a meeting of 13 colleges and universities to initiate changes in football playing rules. The IAAUS was established on March 31, 1906, took its present name, the NCAA, in 1910. For several years, the NCAA was a discussion group and rules-making body, but in 1921, the first NCAA national championship was conducted: the National Collegiate Track and Field Championships. More rules committees were formed and more championships were created, including a basketball championship in 1939. A series of crises brought the NCAA to a crossroads after World War II; the "Sanity Code" – adopted to establish guidelines for recruiting and financial aid – failed to curb abuses.
Postseason football games were multiplying with little control, member schools were concerned about how the new medium of television would affect football attendance. The complexity of those problems and the growth in membership and championships demonstrated the need for full-time professional leadership. Walter Byers a part-time executive assistant, was named executive director in 1951, a national headquarters was established in Kansas City, Missouri in 1952. Byers wasted no time placing his stamp on the Association. A program to control live television of football games was approved, the annual Convention delegated enforcement powers to the Association's Council, legislation was adopted governing postseason bowl games; as college athletics grew, the scope of the nation's athletics programs diverged, forcing the NCAA to create a structure that recognized varying levels of emphasis. In 1973, the Association's membership was divided into three legislative and competitive divisions – I, II, III.
Five years in 1978, Division I members voted to create subdivisions I-A and I-AA in football. Until the 1980s, the association did not offer women's athletics. Instead, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, with nearly 1000 member schools, governed women's collegiate sports in the United States; the AIAW was in a vulnerable position. Following a one-year overlap in which both organizations staged women's championships, the AIAW discontinued operation, most member schools continued their women's athletics programs under the governance of the NCAA. By 1982 all divisions of the NCAA offered national championship events for women's athletics. A year in 1983, the 75th Convention approved an expansion to plan women's athletic program services and pushed for a women's championship program. By the 1980s, televised college football had become a larger source of income for the NCAA. In September 1981, the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma and the University of Georgia Athletic Association filed suit against the NCAA in district court in Oklahoma.
The plaintiffs stated that the NCAA's football tel
