Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico

The Tech has a good record in college athletics, picking up over 18% of the medals at the 2007 national collegiate competition (Universiada) and one of its campuses won every American Football Collegiate Championship in Mexico (ONEFA) from 1998 to 2008. Such accomplishments were possible through the Institute's investments in sports facilities and personnel and a well-funded and comprehensive athletic scholarships program, which attracted a significant number of promising athletes but prompted allegations of talent drain by some of its rivals. Before the 2009 season the Institute decided to part ways with the organization and create a new league; however, the league didn't materialize after other breakaway universities decided to remain in the ONEFA. The Institute asked to return to the organization, but the ONEFA Board decided that the request should be formally presented in its next ordinary meeting, after the 2009 season, which its four teams ended up playing between themselves in a Tech-only championship. For the 2010 season, the Institute decided not to participate in the ONEFA championship and, instead, asked the CONADEIP, a national athletic association of private educational institutions, to create an American football championship. Although there are local adaptations, since 1945 the system-wide sports mascot is the ram (borrego salvaje), traditionally embodied in a male bighorn sheep. A somewhat popular urban legend states that the mascot was chosen by the American football team on its way to a match, after spotting a male sheep on the road. According to the official sources, however, the mascot was chosen during an official contest held by students in the mid-1940s.