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College Football and Student Quality: An Advertising Effect or Culture and Tradition?

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  • D. Randall Smith

Abstract

Intercollegiate sports are said to generate positive advertising that produces many benefits to the host school. Donations, applications, and the academic quality of the student body are some of the mission outcomes thought to rise with the fortunes of the football team. The present study tests these claims for three measures of the academic quality of the entering classes on a 12‐year panel of the 233 colleges and universities competing at the highest levels of football. Results show clear positive effects attributable to the football program, though those effects are more the result of the football culture and tradition at the school than the on‐field performance of the team. Any sports advertising effects of the football program are minimal when compared to the effects of nonathletic institutional characteristics on the quality of students enrolling at the school.

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  • D. Randall Smith, 2009. "College Football and Student Quality: An Advertising Effect or Culture and Tradition?," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(2), pages 553-579, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:68:y:2009:i:2:p:553-579
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00639.x
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    2. Austin F. Eggers & Peter A. Groothuis & Parker Redding & Kurt W. Rotthoff & Michael Solimini, 2020. "Universities Behaving Badly: The Impact of Athletic Malfeasance on Student Quality and Enrollment," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 21(1), pages 87-100, January.
    3. Austin F. Eggers & Peter A. Groothuis, 2021. "The Impact of Winning an NCAA Men's Basketball or Football Championship on Academic Quality," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(2), pages 263-275.
    4. Trevor Collier & Nancy Haskell & Kurt W. Rotthoff & Alaina Baker, 2020. "The “Cinderella Effect†: The Value of Unexpected March Madness Runs as Advertising for the Schools," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 21(8), pages 783-807, December.
    5. David Castells-Quintana & Roberto Gasquez, 2024. "Club football and economic dynamism: a regional analysis for Europe," Working Papers wpdea2402, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    6. Roberto Gásquez & Vicente Royuela, 2014. "Is Football an Indicator of Development at the International Level?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 827-848, July.
    7. Craig McFarland & Peter A. Groothuis & Dennis Guignet, 2024. "The role of football win percentage on college applications for Power Five and Group of Five schools," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(3), pages 474-482, July.
    8. Jonathan Willner, 2019. "Private Universities and NCAA D-III Athletics as a General Recruiting Tool," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 25(3), pages 293-307, August.
    9. Jody W. Lipford & Jerry K. Slice, 2017. "Cost spreading in college athletic spending in the United States: estimates and implications," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 379-393, July.

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