Grants and Challenge Awards
C.A.R.E. Model Conference Grant
In November 2023, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics announced it would provide grants from a pool of $100,000 to Division I Conferences that implement the principles of the C.A.R.E. Model (Connecting Athletics Revenues with the Educational Model of College Sports) for the conferences’ distribution and use of “shared athletics revenues.”
Grants can be used to implement the four core principles and/or to educate institutions, athletics administrators, and other stakeholders about the positive impact of implementing the C.A.R.E. Model. A digital badge will be issued to conferences that achieve C.A.R.E. Model compliance.
The C.A.R.E. Model Division I Conference Grant application can be accessed here. Recipients of the grants will be announced in July 2024.
Challenge Grants for Achieving Racial Equity in College Sports
In 2022, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics issued $100,000 in grants for research projects that supported the equity goals detailed in its “Achieving Racial Equity in College Sports” report. Each research project selected was conducted as a partnership between researchers and athletics administrators at the campus, conference, or national association levels, and each project will publish a final report.
After completion, the research reports will be published here.
October 24, 2016 – Knight Commission Announces Spending Database Challenge Awards
Four research projects were recently completed with support from challenge awards provided by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics to encourage use of its NCAA Division I Athletics & Academic Spending Database (spendingdatabase.knightcommission.org). The Knight Commission does not take a position on the findings produced by the research.
- Athletics Subsidies and College Costs: Are Students Paying for Rising Cost in Intercollegiate Athletics? Willis Jones, University of Kentucky; Michael Rudolph, University of Kentucky
- Big-Time Sports and Big-Time Research: A Comparison of Commercialization Across the Academy. Jennifer Hoffman, University of Washington; Jacob Rooksby, Duquesne University; Greg Hay, University of Washington
- Students’ Perceptions of Institutional Support for Athletics in NCAA Division I. Jordan Bass, University of Kansas; Claire Schaeperkoetter, University of Kansas; Brian Gordon, University of Wisconsin La Crosse
- The Impact of Institutional Characteristics on Total Debt Outstanding on Athletic Facilities: Testing a New Paradigm. Linda Clark, Central Connecticut State University
October 9, 2012 – Research: Shaping policy and practice in intercollegiate athletics
The Knight Commission awarded grants totaling $100,000 to six research projects focused on policy and practice in intercollegiate athletics—building on the Commission’s legacy as a change agent to enhance the ability of sports programs to benefit both students and institutions. The grants went to a combination of established scholars and new voices in the fast-growing area of sport policy, embracing practitioners and scholars of both higher education and sport management.