The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- March 1, 1999

Court sides with NCAA on federal funding issue

The United States Supreme Court ruled February 23 that the NCAA is not considered a recipient of federal funds just because it receives dues from member schools that do receive federal money.

The plaintiff in the case, volleyball player Renee M. Smith, maintained that the NCAA violated Title IX in its continuing-eligibility process and that the Association was subject to Title IX because it receives federal funds.

"The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the NCAA's receipt of dues from federally funded institutions would suffice to bring the Association within the scope of Title IX," wrote Justice Ruth Ginsburg in the unanimous opinion. "We reject that determination as inconsistent with the governing statute, regulation and this Court's decisions.

"Dues payments from recipients of federal funds, we hold, do not suffice to render the dues recipient subject to Title IX."

The Supreme Court remanded to lower courts the question of whether the NCAA should be considered a recipient of federal money because of funding received by the separately incorporated National Youth Sports Program.

NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey said that the decision will not affect the Association's commitment to gender equity.

"We have consistently said that the NCAA should be in compliance with Title IX on a voluntary basis and have worked to achieve compliance," he said. "Obviously, we are pleased with the decision of the Supreme Court in this matter, however."

The case, which was appealed to the Supreme Court after the appeals court's March 16, 1998, ruling, originated when Smith was denied a waiver from NCAA Bylaw 14.1.7. That bylaw states that a postgraduate student-athlete may continue to compete at the institution from which he or she gained an undergraduate degree, provided that the student-athlete is otherwise eligible.

In 1996, Smith sued the NCAA, claiming that the NCAA's refusal to waive the bylaw excluded her from intercollegiate competition based upon her sex in violation of Title IX. In particular, Smith claimed that the NCAA granted proportionately fewer waivers in such cases for women than for men.

A federal district court ruled in 1997 that Title IX did not apply because the plaintiff had not proved that the NCAA receives federal funds. Smith attempted to amend her complaint to say that the NCAA receives federal funds because it receives dues from member institutions that receive federal funds. The district court, however, refused to allow the complaint to be amended.

Smith appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which ruled that Title IX would apply if Smith could prove that the Association receives dues from members who receive federal funds. With the reversal of that decision by the Supreme Court, the case was remanded to the Third Circuit for it or the district court to review other issues raised too late by the plaintiffs for the Supreme Court to consider.