Association versus commercial structures
Modern sports evolved out of traditional pastimes that had a long tradition of prizes in cash or in kind，but this tradition was interrupted by an era of amateurism，which lasted from the second half of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century.
The amateur rule5 originated in England as ameans of class distinction and class exclusivity.With the spread of English sports to the European continent this amateur rule was more or less enforced in many sports and countries.However，not so in the United States.Although amateur sports emerged here too after the Civil War，the American sports world came to diverge from the European with the creation of competing personally owned commercial leagues.These leagues came to operate quite independently of the rest of the global sporting system.
At least four factors led to this critical juncture.First，the distinction between professional and amateur proved to be less tenable in the United States than in Europe because of differences in the class structure.In 19th century England，with its more rigid class structure，boundaries between classeswere crossed with the greatest difficulty.Sportswere one of the many status markers in this class conflict.In the United States，class sensitivities were not as keen，thus creatingmore freedom to transcend class boundaries in sport.
5-8 The US and the EU
Second，Americans were not or hardly involved in the foundation of international governing bodies in sports.Contrary to the European sport history，they produced new sports of American origin，like baseball，football，and basketball，that came to dominate the national sports scene.In these sports，several local and regional leagues developed which were hardly influenced by English or international sporting governing bodies.On the European continent，many English sports were adopted at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.During this period，there was greater interdependency between these nations than ever before.In the light of their diverging languages and cultures，this urged for international regulation and standardization in many fields.The American sports world，however，developed in relative geographic and cultural isolation from this process of organization，regulation and standardization in the“Old World”，giving far more room for all kinds of commercial initiatives to establish closed professional leagues under profit-oriented managerial control，especially in the American sports.
A third factor is that the educational institutions became the main organizers of play in the United States，whereas the voluntary associations came to dominate as such in Europe.Soon after the introduction of intercollegiate sports，groups of colleges formed committees to regulate this competition.This gave rise to several conferences，all over the country，rearranging the structure of college sports away from a hierarchical，single-sport arrangement，which was dominant in the international sporting system，to a horizontalmany-sport arrangement.The constitution of the international sport federations provided that in each country，a single organization in each sport should exercise control over the national competition.In the United States，however，the National Collegiate Athletic Association（NCAA）6，formed in 1910，refused to work within these international rules and isolated itself from the international-and Olympic-sportsmovement.
Fourthly，in this college setting，the Americans imposed upon amateurism their own particular interpretation，quite unlike that found in the club tradition in the United States or amateur sports in England.