The NCATA's thought was, if it looks like a sport, acts like a sport and sounds like a sport...it must be a sport. So was born the idea of fitting the competitive cheer/gymnastics/acrobatic skill set into the mold of other sports and making sure it qualified by the Dept. of Ed and NCAA's standards for a sport. Here lies the deceptive appearance that Acro and Tumbling is an expensive option to choose.
All NCATA teams are fully supported true varsity teams at their respective universities. At the Div. I and Div II levels, the teams are supported by scholarships in addition to the financial, academic, medical and general support provided to all varsity teams in an athletic department. NCATA teams follow all NCAA guidelines and rules which prevent them from competing in non Acro and Tumbling meets, cheering for other teams at games or receiving monetary assistance outside the NCAA limits. If a team cheers at a game for another team, it is can not be defined as an NCAA sport and not eligible for the school to sponsor it as a Title IX/OCR compliant sport. If a team is not going to be Title IX/OCR compliant, a school is usually not going to sponsor it as a varsity sport. That's just the reality of college athletics. If a team competes in two different formats such as an NCATA meet and then a cheer competition, they will be breaking the rules and not Title IX/OCR compliant. Thus, again, a school would not typically sponsor an ineligible team as a varsity sport. If a for profit company was paying for a team's travel, donating uniforms and paying/waiving registration fees for them to compete, that team would be violating so many NCAA rules they wouldn't even be close to being Title IX/OCR compliant and thus, once again, not eligible to be claimed by the university as a compliant sport. The point is that NCATA teams are the only type of team using this skill set that can be considered a sport at the collegiate level. So examining the cost must include a comprehension that the cost is not just for a cheerleading team to compete, but it is the cost of sponsoring a true women's varsity sport.
NCATA teams are compliant and the same as any other women's varsity sport in their respective athletic departments. The average cost to start an Acro and Tumbling team is in line if not cheaper than other size comparable women's sports like rowing, rugby, track or swim/dive. There's scholarships, coaches salaries, insurance, medical support, academic support, equipment, facilities, uniforms, apparel, meals, strength training costs, travel and home contest costs. These are costs every athletic department understands are required to be provided for a varsity team. There is no other option to Acro and Tumbling that is treated as a true varsity sport/program at their university according to the Dept. of Ed/NCAA standards. If there were, those teams in that sport would have to follow all the same guidelines structurally, financially, academically and medically for sponsoring a varsity team. Any support less than that is not a varsity sport. Simply competing in cheer competitions is certainly much cheaper than actually becoming a varsity sport. But if you compare the cost of actually becoming a varsity sport, the format or sport won't matter, THE COSTS ARE THE SAME.
Cheerleading teams are unquestionably cheaper to run, but they are not considered a sport. So having the cheerleading team still be the spirit squad and also compete as a true varsity team is not even possible by the rules. The truth behind evaluating the cost of Acro and Tumbling is that you must compare a women's varsity sport to a women's varsity sport, not a sport to something that is considered a support group by the Dept. of Ed and the NCAA. It's a mistaken case of comparing apples to apples and oranges to well...banana jumps.
