Cite as: 525 U. S. 459 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
between Paralyzed Veterans and this case: The NCAA is "created by and comprised of" schools that receive federal funds, and the Association governs its members "with respect to athletic rules." 139 F. 3d, at 188. In these respects, the Third Circuit observed, the relationship between the Association and its members is "qualitatively different from that between airlines and airport operators." Id., at 189. Evident as these distinctions may be, they do not bear on the narrow question we decide today—whether an entity that receives dues from recipients of federal funds is for that reason a recipient itself.
III
Smith, joined by the United States as amicus curiae, presses two alternative theories for bringing the NCAA under the prescriptions of Title IX.6 First, she asserts that the NCAA directly and indirectly receives federal financial assistance through the National Youth Sports Program NCAA administers. See Brief for Respondent 35-37, 39- 41.7 Second, Smith argues that when a recipient cedes con-6 Smith's brief to the Third Circuit alluded to these theories. See Brief for Appellant in Nos. 97-3346 and 97-3347 (CA3), pp. 5, 22 (arguing that the NCAA receives federal financial assistance through the National Youth Sports Program it operates); ibid. (arguing that an organization that assumes control over a federally funded program is thereby subject to Title IX).
7 Two District Courts have found that the NCAA's relationship to the National Youth Sports Program creates an issue of fact regarding whether the NCAA is a recipient of federal financial assistance. See Bowers v. National Collegiate Athletic Assn., 9 F. Supp. 2d 460, 494 (NJ 1998) (denying NCAA's motion for summary judgment in a Rehabilitation Act suit because "there are genuine questions of material fact as to whether the NCAA receives federal funds through the [National Youth Sports Program Fund]"); Cureton v. National Collegiate Athletic Assn., No. Civ. A. 97-131, 1997 WL 634376, *2 (ED Pa., Oct. 9, 1997) (refusing NCAA's motion for summary judgment in a Title VI action). Also, the Department of Health and Human Services has issued two letter determinations that the NCAA is a recipient of federal assistance by virtue of the Depart-ment's grant to the National Youth Sports Program Fund. See Brief for
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