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An Economic Model of the College Football Recruiting Process

Author

Listed:
  • J. Michael Dumond

    (ERS Group, Inc.)

  • Allen K. Lynch

    (Mercer University)

  • Jennifer Platania

    (Elon University)

Abstract

College football programs devote an enormous amount of resources in efforts to persuade high school football players to attend their schools. In this study, we develop an empirical model of the factors that recruits consider when selecting a school, using a database that combines school-specific attributes with recruit-specific information. The authors' estimates imply that recruits' decisions are governed by a handful of primary factors such as the geographic distance between the recruit and the college, the school's recent football rankings, and whether the school is a member of one of the six Bowl Championship Series (BCS) conferences.

Suggested Citation

  • J. Michael Dumond & Allen K. Lynch & Jennifer Platania, 2008. "An Economic Model of the College Football Recruiting Process," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 9(1), pages 67-87, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:9:y:2008:i:1:p:67-87
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002506298125
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Philip L. Hersch, 2012. "Does the NCAA Coaching Carousel Hamper the Professional Prospects of College Football Recruits?," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 13(1), pages 20-33, February.
    2. Brad R. Humphreys & Jane E. Ruseski, 2018. "Strategic Interaction in a Repeated Game: Evidence from NCAA Football Recruiting," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 52(2), pages 283-303, March.
    3. Joshua D. Pitts & Jon Paul Rezek, 2012. "Athletic Scholarships in Intercollegiate Football," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 13(5), pages 515-535, October.
    4. Matthew Kotchen & Matthew Potoski, 2011. "Conflicts of Interest Distort Public Evaluations: Evidence from the Top 25 Ballots of NCAA Football Coaches," NBER Working Papers 17628, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. W. David Allen, 2015. "The Demand for Younger and Older Workers," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 16(2), pages 127-158, February.
    6. Kotchen, Matthew J. & Potoski, Matthew, 2014. "Conflicts of interest distort public evaluations: Evidence from NCAA football coaches," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PA), pages 51-63.
    7. Kristina Gavin Bigsby & Jeffrey W. Ohlmann & Kang Zhao, 2017. "Online and Off the Field: Predicting School Choice in College Football Recruiting from Social Media Data," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 14(4), pages 261-273, December.
    8. J. D. Pitts & B. Evans, 2016. "The role of conference externalities and other factors in determining the annual recruiting rankings of football bowl subdivision (FBS) teams," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(33), pages 3164-3174, July.
    9. Jill S. Harris, 2018. "State of Play: How Do College Football Programs Compete for Student Athletes?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 52(2), pages 269-281, March.
    10. Brad R. Humphreys & Jane Ruseski, 2014. "Adolescent Steroid Use and Intercollegiate Athletic Incentives," Working Papers 14-25, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    11. E. Woodrow Eckard, 2013. "Is the Bowl Championship Series a Cartel? Some Evidence," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 14(1), pages 3-22, February.
    12. Jesse Bricker & Andrew Hanson, 2013. "The Impact of Early Commitment on Games Played: Evidence from College Football Recruiting," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 79(4), pages 971-983, April.
    13. Franklin G. Mixon & Rand W. Ressler & Richard J. Cebula, 2012. "Beyond the Friday night lights: Social networks, migration, and individual success in college football," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(1), pages 16-26.
    14. Trey Dronyk-Trosper & Brandli Stitzel, 2017. "Lock-In and Team Effects," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(4), pages 376-387, May.
    15. Humphreys, Brad & Ruseski, Jane, 2009. "Tit-for-tat Strategies in Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma Games: Evidence from NCAA Football," Working Papers 2009-24, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    16. Gary J. Colbert & E. Woodrow Eckard, 2015. "Do Colleges Get What They Pay For? Evidence on Football Coach Pay and Team Performance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 16(4), pages 335-352, May.
    17. Stephen A. Bergman & Trevon D. Logan, 2016. "The Effect of Recruit Quality on College Football Team Performance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(6), pages 578-600, August.
    18. Bradley R. Curs & Casandra E. Harper & Charles Frey & Brandon Wolak, 2023. "The Effect of College Football Bowl Game Participation on Student-Athlete Academic Outcomes and Team Athletic Success," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 64(4), pages 497-519, June.
    19. Brent A. Evans & Joshua D. Pitts, 2018. "Cross-Sport Recruiting Effects in NCAA D1 Football and Basketball," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(6), pages 820-842, August.
    20. Matt Ryan Huml & N David Pifer & Caitlin Towle & Cheryl R Rode, 2019. "If we build it, will they come? The effect of new athletic facilities on recruiting rankings for power five football and men's basketball programs," Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 1-18, January.
    21. McDonald Paul Mirabile & Mark David Witte, 2017. "A Discrete-Choice Model of a College Football Recruit’s Program Selection Decision," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(3), pages 211-238, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    college; football; recruiting; probit; BCS;
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