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Boosters and Fans

Who is a booster?

  • A "representative of the institution's athletics interests" is an individual who is known (or who should have been known) by a member of the institution's executive or athletics administration to: 
    • becomes a booster, that person remains a booster indefinitely. 
    • Have participated in or to be a member of an agency or organization promoting the institution's intercollegiate athletics program; 
    • Have made financial contributions to the athletics department or to an athletics booster organization of that institution; 
    • Be assisting or to have been requested (by the athletics department staff) to assist in the recruitment of prospective student-athletes; Be assisting or to have assisted in providing benefits to enrolled student-athletes or their families; or 
    • Have been involved otherwise in promoting the institution's athletics program. 

What boosters can do:

  • Provide an occasional meal to a student-athlete or an entire team at any location in the locale of the institution. Meals must be restricted to infrequent and special occasions. Please consult with the director of athletics at the institution to determine what qualifies as "in the locale" and what constitutes "infrequent and special occasions." 
  • Provide local transportation to a student-athlete for the occasional meal. 
  • Pay for or provide a meal to a student-athlete or entire team outside of the locale of the institution as long as the meal is in conjunction with, or en route to or from, an away- from-home contest 
  • Pay for or provide a meal to a student-athlete or entire team outside of the locale of the institution as long as the meal is in conjunction with, or en route to or from, an away- from-home contest 

What boosters cannot do:

  • Provide a current student-athlete, their parents or friends with any benefit or special arrangement without prior approval of the director of athletics. 
  • Provide, co-sign, or arrange a loan for a student-athlete, the student-athlete's parents, relatives or friends – no matter the amount. 
  • Pay for, arrange for payment of, or provide cost-free room, board, or transportation for a student-athlete or their family and friends. 
  • Provide or arrange for the provision of gifts or free or reduced-cost services of any kind (e.g., restaurant meals, summer storage space, use of laundry facilities, retail discounts, etc.) for a current student-athlete or his or her family members 
  • Provide entertainment to student-athletes or their families. 
  • Provide any award (e.g., financial aid award, most valuable player award, etc.) to student- athletes which are not approved by the department of athletics or not provided through the college/university. 
  • Provide tickets to professional sporting events. 
  • Make contact (e.g., in-person contact, telephone calls, electronic communication, written correspondence) with the student-athlete of another NCAA or National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) four-year collegiate institution about transferring institutions.

Boosters and recruiting

  • What you can do:
    • Write, email, text, or telephone a prospect in an effort to recruit him or her to the university. Contact a prospect's high school coach, principal or counselor for the purpose of recruiting the prospect (e.g., meeting with the counselor, picking up a videotape of the prospect, etc.) 
    • If permission from the college/university is given, make recruiting contacts and evaluations with prospective student-athletes and four-year college prospective student- athletes. 
    • Forward information (e.g., via newspaper clippings, internet postings, telephone calls to coaching staff members, etc.) about a prospect to coaching staff members. 
    • Attend high school, prep school, club events and two-year college athletics events at your own initiative (i.e., not at the direction of a university staff member) provided you do not have contact with the prospect or his/her parents, guardians, relatives, high school/Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) coach, guidance counselor, etc. unless permissible through NCAA recruiting legislation.
    • Display normal civility if you "run into" a prospect somewhere other than the prospect's educational institution, practice or competition site. Such contact must be truly incidental and not prearranged by anyone. 
    • Continue established relationships with friends and neighbors. Contacts with these individuals should not be for recruiting purposes. Any benefits provided should be similar in nature to benefits provided prior to the individual entering ninth grade.
    • Prospects may attend luncheons or dinners in their immediate locale which are sponsored by the college/university and are open to all prospective students (not prospective student-athletes only). Contact with prospects at such events is permissible. 
  • What you cannot do:
    • Directly or indirectly make any arrangement for a prospect to receive cash, financial aid of any kind, or loans of any kind (including signing or co-signing for a loan). 
    • Provide, arrange for or pay for any type of transportation to any location for a prospect. 
    • Provide a prospect with any cost-free or discounted gifts or services, including tickets to a home or away event, and payment of camp registration fees. 
    • Provide or arrange employment for a prospect or a prospect's relatives or friends. 
    • Provide gifts of clothing or equipment, or any tangible item including merchandise. 
    • Provide free or reduced-cost services, rentals or purchase of any type or free or reduced- cost housing. 
    • Finance or arrange the use of recruiting aids to publicize the institutions interest in a particular prospect. 
    • Contact a student from another institution to encourage him or her to transfer. 
    • Provide anything to a prospect without prior approval from the director of athletics.