Sports Participation at NCAA Colleges Sets Record

The number of athletes playing on intercollegiate teams at colleges in the National Collegiate Athletic Association rose to 421,000 in the 2008-9 academic year, hitting record highs for both male and female athletes, the association said Tuesday. Most of the growth came among women, but men continued to outnumber female athletes over all by about 57 to 43 percent. Among other highlights of the association's annual Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report; NCAA colleges added 157 men’s teams and 197 women’s teams in 2008-9, and dropped 63 men’s and 57 women’s squads, and the average NCAA member had 399 athletes, 228 men and 171 women.