PUBLIC LAW 105-244—OCT. 7, 1998 112 STAT. 1807 SEC. 805. STUDY OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR PARTICIPATION IN ATHLET- 20 USC 1001 ICS PROGRAMS. note. (a) STUDY.— The Comptroller General shall conduct a study of the opportunities for participation in intercollegiate athletics. The study shall address issues including— (1) the extent to which the number of— (A) secondary school athletic teams has increased or decreased in the 20 years preceding 1998 (in aggregate terms); and (B) intercollegiate athletic teams has increased or decreased in the 20 years preceding 1998 (in aggregate terms) at 2-year and 4-year institutions of higher education; (2) the extent to which participation by student-athletes in secondary school and intercollegiate athletics has increased or decreased in the 20 years preceding 1998 (in aggregate terms); (3) over the 20-year period preceding 1998, a list of the men's and women's secondary school and intercollegiate sports, ranked in order of the sports most affected by increases or decreases in levels of participation and numbers of teams (in the aggregate); (4) all factors that have influenced campus officials to add or discontinue sports teams at secondary schools and institutions of higher education, including— (A) institutional mission and priorities; (B) budgetary pressures; (C) institutional reforms and restructuring; (D) escalating liability insurance premiums; (E) changing student and community interest in a sport; (F) advancement of diversity among students; (G) lack of necessary level of competitiveness of the sports program; (H) club level sport achieving a level of competitiveness to make the sport a viable varsity level sport; (I) injuries or deaths; and (J) conference realignment; (5) the actions that institutions of higher education have taken when decreasing the level of participation in intercollegiate sports, or the number of teams, in terms of providing information, advice, scholarship maintenance, counseling, advance warning, and an opportunity for student-athletes to be involved in the decisionmaJdng process; (6) the administrative processes and procedures used by institutions of higher education when determining whether to increase or decrease intercollegiate athletic teams or participation by student-athletes; (7) the budgetary or fiscal impact, if any, of a decision by an institution of higher education— (A) to increase or decrease the number of intercollegiate athletic teams or the participation of student-athletes; or (B) to be involved in a conference realignment; and (8) the alternatives, if any, institutions of higher education have pursued in lieu of eliminating, or severely reducing the funding for, anintercoUegiate sport, and the success of such alternatives.
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