Why do some colleges have basketball teams that are Division IA, yet their football teams are not?

Question

Some schools have b-ball teams that are D-I, but their football and other sports teams are in lower divisions like 1-AA and D-II. Why are they not all the same. D-I college football has like 119 teams, but D-I basketball has well over 200. Why the difference?

Answer 1

It's much cheaper to field a big-time basketball program than a football one; less space for the field and seating, fewer players on scholarship. In addition, many schools have a basketball tradition without much of a football one - think about Temple's basketball program against its vagabond football program.

Schools in cities find space at a premium, so St. John's and similar schools can afford to take up a basketball court-sized space, but a football field would be prohibitively expensive to keep up.

There isn't a I-A program in New York City - the closest would be Army, Connecticut or Rutgers, not exactly football powerhouses (Rutgers' last season notwithstanding)

Answer 2

Think about it! It doesn't cost nearly as much to field a basketball team as it does a football team! The schools that play football at 1-AA or lower have the money to field a 1-A basketball program, but simply don't have enough to field a 1-A football program.

Answer 3

NCAA divisions are contingent upon schedule, number of sports teams, scholarship, and attendance.

Without going into the intricacies of the first two, attendence is the the bottom line in football. In order to qualify as an NCAA D-IA school in football, there must be an average of 15,000 people in actual or paid attendance per home game -- this criteria must be met once in a rolling two-year period.

It would seem, then, that schools laden with basketball talent (such as Georgetown) but not football talent are able to meet the criteria for Division IA status in basketball but not in football.

Answer 4

i think the reasons are money and comptetiveness. At schools like St Johns and St Josephs its easy and more cost effective to recruit players from the new york and philadelphia area to come play for your school. There isnt much competition from Syracuse and Temple and Villanova and other schools. But in football. There is Penn St. Pittsburgh, Notre Dame Ohio State Rutge. Big name football schools and the prestige of being on television and winning a national championship. its harder for coaches to recruit the football players to a basketball school and vice versa. some of these schools play d2 basketball just so they can stay competitive.

Answer 5

Division 1A football is an expensive undertaking with scholarships, equipment, coaching staff, training staff, training facilities, transportation costs, etc.
Tons of eastern universities just stick with having a good basketball program. Probably 1/5 the scholarships, coaches, trainers, transportation cost to achieve the same if not more television coverage and revenue.

Answer 6

Definitely cost to run a football program is one answer. The other being competition. I went to a private high school, and we played some of the mediocre 4A & 5A football teams. But in basketball, baseball, and soccer, we were always one of the top teams in the area...against all 5A teams. So, that covers the "competition" aspect.

Answer 7

Another similar question would be why they let Notre Dame in a conference in basketball and allow them to be independant in football? Who knows....I am sure there are some rules attached to the questions that only lawyers can read.

Answer 8

Because there basketball teams are actually pretty good example George town

Answer 9

Competition, marketing, weeding out the bad teams, shorter schedules in football....the list so repetitive that it's not even funny.