The recently released 2007-08 NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report reveals that participation levels continued to surge for both male and female student-athletes. After total participation surpassed 400,000 last year, that number grew to 412,768 NCAA student-athletes who participated in championship sports in 2007-08. The average institution had about 400 student-athletes, an increase of 16 over last year’s figures.

The number of championship sports teams for men and women also jumped by 91 and 100, respectively, from the previous year. Overall for 2007-08, member institutions sponsored 9,380 women’s teams and 8,302 men’s teams for a total of 17,682 championship sport teams.

The largest gains for both men and women came from Division III, which increased by 49 women’s championship sport teams and 63 men’s teams in 2007-08, followed by Division I, which increased by 42 and 23 women’s and men’s championship sports teams, respectively.

The number of women’s championship sport teams sponsored has increased annually for the past 26 years, including in 2007-08. This year’s report also continued a 12-year trend of institutions sponsoring more championship sport teams for women than for men. In comparison, the number of men’s championship sport teams sponsored has decreased four of the past 10 years. That number, however, has been on an upswing since 2003-04, hitting a record high in 2007-08.

Basketball was again the most commonly sponsored championship sport for men and women, a trend that has continued since 1981-82. Volleyball, cross country, soccer, softball, tennis and track and field were the next most frequently sponsored sports for women. Behind basketball, the most commonly sponsored sports for men were cross country, baseball, golf, soccer, tennis, track and field, and football.

The same general trends were seen divisionally. Basketball was the most common for women, although in Division I, cross country was sponsored nearly as much. Although the same top eight sports for men were reflected in each division, there was some variation in order. For instance, men’s soccer was sponsored nearly as often as basketball in Division III, while men’s soccer is the fifth most sponsored sport in Division II. 

In 2007-08, the sport with the highest number of women’s teams added was lacrosse, with 17, followed by outdoor track and field, and indoor track and field. Meanwhile, the sport with the highest number of men’s teams added was outdoor track and field, also with 17 new programs, followed by indoor track and field, lacrosse, and cross country.

Indoor track and field topped the list of sports registering the highest number of men’s and women’s programs that were dropped, 15 and 10 teams, respectively.

The result of schools adding and dropping teams in 2007-08 was a net increase of 32 men’s teams and 50 women’s teams. Since 1988-89, when this figure was first included in the report, there has been a net gain of 234 men’s teams and 2,342 women’s teams.

Most of the net losses in men’s sports are from Division I. In 2007-08, the division lost of 14 teams and since 1988-89 has lost nearly 300 squads. Comparatively, there has been a net gain of 700 women’s teams in Division I over the same period, with just two years in which there was a net loss (1988-89 and 2007-08).

In the most recent report, lacrosse was the women’s sport with the largest net gain (15), while lacrosse and outdoor track were the men’s sports that produced the greatest net gain (11 each). With a loss of three teams, rifle was the women’s sport with the biggest net loss. Meanwhile, rifle and wrestling lost three programs each in 2007-08 to generate the largest net loss for men’s sports.

Although historically, the average number of female student-athletes has increased and the average number of male student-athletes has decreased since 1981-82, the latest report revealed a significant jump in the average number of male student-athletes per institution. Compared to the 1981-82 academic year, on average, each NCAA institution had about 69 more females and seven more males in the 2007-08 totals.

Continuing a 26-year trend, football had the most participants of any men’s sport, registering more than twice as many participants as baseball, the sport with the second highest number of participants, followed by track and field, soccer, basketball, and cross country. That trend is apparent by division as well.

Soccer tops the list of sports with the most female student-athletes, followed by track and field, softball, basketball, volleyball, cross country, swimming and diving, and tennis. The same was true divisionally, except in Division I, in which track and field still has the highest number of female participants.