Athletic Booster

Yes. When you are an official “athletic booster,” the NCAA prohibits you from doing certain things involving athlete recruitment.

To be considered a booster according to the NCAA, you have to have done any of the following activities:

• Provided a donation in order to obtain season tickets for any sport at the university.
• Participated in or has been a member of an organization promoting the university’s athletics programs.
• Made financial contributions to the athletic department or to a university booster organization.
• Arranged for or provided employment for enrolled student-athletes.
• Assisted or has been requested by university staff to assist in the recruitment of prospective student-athletes.
• Assisted in providing benefits to enrolled student athletes or their families.
• Been involved otherwise in promoting university athletics.

This casts a pretty wide net, especially that last one. There doesn’t seem to be any “registration” system for boosters, so I assume it’s only reviewed in retrospect of a violation investigation (see below).

Once you’re considered a booster, you basically can’t do two things:

• Help the university recruit a prospect
• Provide any benefit to current student athletes

Presumably, this rule was created to prevent universities from paying student athletes for their performance or recruitment. I assume it was common at one time for universities to depend on wealthy alumni to funnel money to prospects or athletes, thus circumventing the rules but giving them deniability.

Why I Looked It Up

I’ve just always wondered. I knew “boosters” were fans of a school’s athletics, but I was curious if it went beyond that, to a more official definition.