Association For Intercollegiate Athletics For Women - History - AIAW Vs. NCAA

AIAW Vs. NCAA

At its peak, the AIAW had almost 1,000 member schools. In the late 1970s, however, schools began to realize that women's athletics could be profitable, and the NCAA decided to offer women's championships. The NCAA's Divisions II and III voted to offer championships in 1980; however, Division I members failed to gain a majority vote on this issue until the 1981 national meeting. This decision was quite contentious. During the tense floor debate, AIAW representatives objected to the motion to sponsor Division I championships, but their objections were met with pockets of "ridicule and hissing". After considerable debate, a vote was called, and the initial result was a tie, 124–124. A recount of the votes revealed the defeat of the motion by a vote of 128–127. However, parliamentary rules permit "reconsideration" of a vote if someone on the prevailing side asks for it. Several delegates on the losing side knew of one institution that had voted against the motion but whose faculty representative favored the NCAA position. When the influencer of the school’s "nay" vote left the room, those delegates prevailed upon that representative to request reconsideration. This time it passed, 137–117.

For the 1981-82 academic year, schools were able to compete in either the NCAA or the AIAW championships. There were a few occasions when a school participated in both tournaments that year (Florida in gymnastics, 1982; indeed the University of Tulsa won both the AIAW and NCAA women's golf championships in 1982). However, the battle of members had started, as schools whose men's teams were already participating in the NCAA started to integrate their women's teams. Although some schools permitted their individual women's teams to choose, most schools made the weighty decision to support only one of the two organizations. The AIAW had fought for women's rights in the Title IX battle, while the NCAA had opposed those efforts. In contrast, the NCAA was much better funded and had better access to television contracts. The University of Texas, where the last AIAW president, Donna Lopiano, was the women's athletics director, was one of the stronger holdouts. But when seventeen of the top twenty basketball teams agreed to enter the NCAA tournament, it proved to be the end for the AIAW.

In 1982 the first Division I NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament was held. The NCAA was able to offer incentives, such as payment of transportation costs, to participating members, something the AIAW was not able to do. When former AIAW powerhouses like Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, and Old Dominion decided to participate in the NCAA tournament, the AIAW tournament lost much of its appeal and popularity.

NBC canceled its TV contract with the association, and in mid-1982 the AIAW stopped operations in all sports. Following the last AIAW sanctioned event in 1982, the AIAW pursued a federal anti-trust suit against the NCAA. But one year later, after the presiding judge ruled against the organization, the AIAW ceased existence on June 30, 1983.

Under NCAA governance, scholarships increased. However, several problems the NCAA was facing, then and now, began also to affect women's intercollegiate athletics. Examples of these include recruiting irregularities and increased turnover in coaching positions for revenue-producing sports.

Several AIAW championships were televised by the TVS Television Network in 1979 and can be seen on demand at http://www.TV4U.com.