The ncaa operates as:

a. an illegal cartel.
b. a profit-maximizing cartel.
c. an incidental cartel.
d. an administrative liaison between collegiate amateur and professional sports.

The correct answer is letter "C": An incidental cartel.

Explanation:

A cartel is a group of companies or countries that act together to control the prices of a specific market acting mostly like monopolies or monopsonies. Cartels decide also what the level of output will be, how revenues will be distributed and set barriers for entry to competitors. Cartels are illegal in the United States.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA is a group of different schools that have gathered to rule intercollegiate athletics. Incidentally, the NCAA works as a cartel but they are different from them because their initial goal when it was formed was not to monopolize the industry.