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The Faculty Flutie Factor: Does Football Performance Affect a University’s US News and World Report Peer Assessment Score?

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  • Mulholland, Sean
  • Tomic, Aleksandar
  • Sholander, Samuel

Abstract

Analyzing the peer assessment portion of the US News and World Report’s college rankings, we find that administrators and faculty rate more highly universities whose football team receives a greater number of votes in either the final Associated Press or Coaches Poll. Controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, our estimates suggest that a one standard deviation increase in the number of votes received in either the Associated Press or USA Today Coaches’ Football Poll is viewed as positively as a forty point increase in a school’s SAT score at the 75th percentile.

Suggested Citation

  • Mulholland, Sean & Tomic, Aleksandar & Sholander, Samuel, 2010. "The Faculty Flutie Factor: Does Football Performance Affect a University’s US News and World Report Peer Assessment Score?," MPRA Paper 26443, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:26443
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    1. Football has an impact on college quality
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2010-12-13 21:10:00
    2. How Football Improves College Quality
      by Ariel Goldring in Free Market Mojo on 2010-12-16 18:00:31

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    1. 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.
    2. Behera, Sarthak & Sadana, Divya, 2022. "The Impact of Visibility on School Athletic Finances: An Empirical Analysis using Google Trends," MPRA Paper 114818, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    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. Candon Johnson & Bryan C. McCannon, 2022. "Athletics and Admissions: The Impact of the Penn State Football Scandal on Student Quality," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 23(2), pages 200-221, February.
    6. Bouchet, Adrien & Laird, Mary Dana & Troilo, Mike & Hutchinson, Michael & Ferris, Gerald, 2017. "Effects of increased commitment on reputation and status: Evidence from NCAA Division I universities," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 395-407.
    7. 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.
    8. D. Randall Smith, 2019. "The Lure of Academic and Social Reputations Versus Athletic Success: Influences on Enrollment Yield at NCAA Division I Institutions," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 60(6), pages 870-904, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    college football; football bowl subdivision; national universities; peer assessment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

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