This article reports results of an analysis of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) regulatory activity from 1952 to 1986. Support is found for a synthesis of resource dependence and institutional theories of interorganizational regulation. Regulation maintains stable competitive relationships by tying competing orientations to resource exchange and the institutional norms that bind member organizations and legitimate their activities. A balance of tangible and symbolic resources, material interest, and belief, binds member organizations in a regulatory network. In the case of the NCAA, successful athletic schools are more likely to pursue instrumentally-rational athletic activity oriented toward winning and maximum profit, while academically selective schools pursue more value-rational athletic activity oriented toward the educational benefits of amateur athletic competition.
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