The NCAA is home to the most-watched college sports in the US and also organizes games and tournaments between underrepresented sports such as fencing, rugby, and even bowling. However, one sport has flat out refused to become affiliated with the NCAA. While women's rowing is a NCAA sport, men's rowing competes under their own organization, the Intercollegiate Rowing Association, or IRA.
Related: 5 Underrepresented Sports in the NCAA
The IRA members are considered “D1” for men's rowing while the Dad Vail Regalia is considered the championship for “D2” men's rowing. The American Collegiate Rowing Association is the association that manages and organizes club rowing, as the IRA disaffiliated with club rowing as the IRA grew in size and recognition. While men's rowing is not affiliated with the NCAA, most universities abide by NCAA rules for their athletes.
Now you may be wondering why men's rowing abides by NCAA rules, has different divisions of the sport similar to the NCAA yet, still isn't affiliated with the NCAA. The answer essentially comes down to politics.
In 1972, Title IX passed and paved the way for gender equality in college athletics. While this bill did a lot of great things, like requiring that federally funded programs require equal opportunities and resources to men and women, Men's rowing got screwed in the process. Large and popular mens sports such as football take up a lot of university resources so, to offset this many universities instituted women's rowing teams to offer more opportunity for women. The same offer was not extended to men's rowing as the university chose to allocate resources to more popular mens sports.
After the Title IX amendment, a few men's rowing teams petitioned to get NCAA sponsorship but, overall most teams decided that being a part of the NCAA was not worth fighting budget cuts and other NCAA regulations. As a whole, the men's rowing community decided to create their own association.The IRA and similar associations allow men's rowing to operate freely but this independence has its drawbacks. The NCAA has name recognition in college sports and a win in an NCAA conference is more well-known and impressive to the general public than a win in an IRA conference. The IRA also receives less funding and media attention than its women's counterpart.
To be clear, Title IX was needed in college sports when it was implemented. However I think it is time to be reevaluated so it no longer can be an excuse to create unequal opportunities in men's sports. Men's rowing, and other underrepresented sports like it, have suffered in the shadow of popular men's sports such as football and basketball due, not to Title IX, but to massive overspending in other men's sports.
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* Originally published on April 6, 2022, by Daley Craft
