It is important to be able to inspire and teach new rowers. As rowers ourselves, we should want the sport to flourish so that many others may come to enjoy the sport we love so much. The main problem that comes without a division label is university funding. Many collegiate clubs can only receive funding through club sports, alumi, donations, and fundraisers. These methods yield no-where near the funding that NCAA sports yield. And yet, rowing is a sport that unfortunately requires much funding. A racing 8-shell can cost $30k!
So to make NCAA or not? For the purpose of encouraging new rowers, rowing needs to remain a club sport (this includes the women). In the US, there is just not enough popularity for the sport. By keeping rowing a club sport, it makes it easier to walk-ons to learn how to row. Of course, there are many competitive clubs that recruit and are highly selective in who they seat (Harvard, Brown, Yale, etc.) But I would assume this selectivity would just increase with NCAA labeling.
The other end of the problem is sufficient funding. Clubs can take on new rowers but if they can not fund those rowers in the form of equipment and staffing, then rowing might as well be a division sport. On the financial end, there has to be more incentive for universities/colleges to fund rowing clubs more sufficiently. Perhaps with more adequately equipped clubs with lower exclusivity, rowing can become the rapidly emerging sport in the US.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="532" caption="Distribution of revenue of collegiate men and women's rowing clubs (2007)"]
[/caption]Of course there are many other angles to the problem of how to increasing rowing popularity, but I've only mentioned the two I saw as overall major.
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