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Criminal Records and the Labor Market for Professional Athletes

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  • Kendall Weir
  • Stephen Wu

Abstract

We observe all 1,273 players drafted into the National Football League between 2005 and 2009 to determine the effects of character concerns on draft status and performance in the National Football League. Prospects that have a history of formal criminal charges or are suspended for team or university violations fall between 16and 22 spots in the draft. The impacts of character concerns on performance depend on the nature of the issue. Players who have a history of suspension (noncriminal related) perform worse than other players but having an encounter with law enforcement does not negatively predict performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Kendall Weir & Stephen Wu, 2014. "Criminal Records and the Labor Market for Professional Athletes," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 15(6), pages 617-635, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:15:y:2014:i:6:p:617-635
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002513487739
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Philip L. Hersch & Jodi E. Pelkowski, 2016. "Are there too few trades during the NFL draft?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(7), pages 516-519, May.
    2. J.D. Pitts & B. Evans, 2018. "Evidence on the importance of cognitive ability tests for NFL quarterbacks: what are the relationships among Wonderlic scores, draft positions and NFL performance outcomes?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(27), pages 2957-2966, June.
    3. Christopher Jepsen & Lisa Jepsen & Trevor Draisey & Josh Mahoney, 2021. "Race and National Football League Player Salaries After Controlling for Fantasy Statistics and Arrests," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 22(4), pages 359-386, May.
    4. Geoffrey N Tuck & Shane A Richards, 2019. "Risk equivalence as an alternative to balancing mean value when trading draft selections and players in major sporting leagues," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-15, May.

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