IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/reihed/v64y2023i4d10.1007_s11162-022-09710-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of College Football Bowl Game Participation on Student-Athlete Academic Outcomes and Team Athletic Success

Author

Listed:
  • Bradley R. Curs

    (University of Missouri)

  • Casandra E. Harper

    (University of Missouri)

  • Charles Frey

    (University of Missouri)

  • Brandon Wolak

    (University of Missouri)

Abstract

This study presents the results of a regression discontinuity empirical approach to investigate the effects of postseason bowl game participation on student-athlete academic outcomes and subsequent football team success. The practice expectations for student-athletes on football teams that participate in a bowl game increase by between two and four weeks relative to student-athletes on teams that do not participate in a bowl game. Prior research has been inconclusive on whether this increased practice intensity is associated with academic or athletic outcomes. The sample includes 130 NCAA football bowl subdivision (FBS) teams between the years 2003 through 2018. We apply a fuzzy regression discontinuity design by exploiting the fact that teams in the NCAA FBS become eligible to participate in a bowl game when their regular season winning percentage is greater than 0.50. The results suggest that bowl game participation increased the team’s eligibility rate by 0.8 percentage points, the team’s Academic Progress Rate by 4.6 points, but had no effect on the team’s retention rate. Bowl game participation was not found to affect the subsequent year’s winning percentage or likelihood of bowl game participation. Athletic programs that are undecided about whether the costs, in finances or time, of participating in a bowl game are worthwhile might benefit from these findings. In particular, the results reveal that bowl game participation does not come as a detriment to the academic outcomes of their student-athletes.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reihed:v:64:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s11162-022-09710-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s11162-022-09710-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11162-022-09710-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11162-022-09710-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    2. Jason M. Lindo & Isaac D. Swensen & Glen R. Waddell, 2012. "Are Big-Time Sports a Threat to Student Achievement?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 254-274, October.
    3. 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.
    4. Imbens, Guido W. & Lemieux, Thomas, 2008. "Regression discontinuity designs: A guide to practice," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 615-635, February.
    5. Willis A. Jones, 2013. "Exploring the Relationship Between Intercollegiate Athletic Expenditures and Team On-Field Success Among NCAA Division I Institutions," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 14(6), pages 584-605, December.
    6. Lee, David S. & Card, David, 2008. "Regression discontinuity inference with specification error," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 655-674, February.
    7. Joy Gaston Gayles & Shouping Hu, 2009. "The Influence of Student Engagment and Sport Participation on College Outcomes Among Division I Student Athletes," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 80(3), pages 315-333, May.
    8. Michal Kolesár & Christoph Rothe, 2018. "Inference in Regression Discontinuity Designs with a Discrete Running Variable," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(8), pages 2277-2304, August.
    9. Susan Rankin & Dan Merson & Jason C. Garvey & Carl H. Sorgen & India Menon & Karla Loya & Leticia Oseguera, 2016. "The Influence of Climate on the Academic and Athletic Success of Student-Athletes: Results from a Multi-Institutional National Study," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 87(5), pages 701-730, September.
    10. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2010. "Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 281-355, June.
    11. Laura Beaudin, 2018. "Examining the Relationship Between Athletic Program Expenditure and Athletic Program Success Among NCAA Division I Institutions," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(7), pages 1016-1045, October.
    12. Amato, Louis & Gandar, John M. & Tucker, Irvin B. & Zuber, Richard A., 1996. "Bowls versus playoffs: The impact on football player graduation rates in the national collegiate athletic association," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 187-195, April.
    13. Louis H. Amato & John M. Gandar & Richard A. Zuber, 2001. "The Impact of Proposition 48 on the Relationship Between Football Success and Football Player Graduation Rates," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 2(2), pages 101-112, May.
    14. McCrary, Justin, 2008. "Manipulation of the running variable in the regression discontinuity design: A density test," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 698-714, February.
    15. 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.
    16. Hernández-Julián, Rey & Rotthoff, Kurt W., 2014. "The impact of college football on academic achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 141-147.
    17. Larry LaForge & Janie Hodge, 2011. "NCAA Academic Performance Metrics: Implications for Institutional Policy and Practice," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 82(2), pages 217-235, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Blaise Melly & Rafael Lalive, 2020. "Estimation, Inference, and Interpretation in the Regression Discontinuity Design," Diskussionsschriften dp2016, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft.
    2. Di Giacomo, Marina & Piacenza, Massimiliano & Siciliani, Luigi & Turati, Gilberto, 2022. "The effect of co-payments on the take-up of prenatal tests," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Paco Martorell & Damon Clark, 2010. "The Signaling Value of a High School Diploma," Working Papers 1248, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    4. Canaan, Serena, 2022. "Parental leave, household specialization and children’s well-being," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Mauricio Villamizar‐Villegas & Freddy A. Pinzon‐Puerto & Maria Alejandra Ruiz‐Sanchez, 2022. "A comprehensive history of regression discontinuity designs: An empirical survey of the last 60 years," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1130-1178, September.
    6. Huber, Martin, 2019. "An introduction to flexible methods for policy evaluation," FSES Working Papers 504, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland.
    7. Bartalotti Otávio, 2019. "Regression Discontinuity and Heteroskedasticity Robust Standard Errors: Evidence from a Fixed-Bandwidth Approximation," Journal of Econometric Methods, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-26, January.
    8. Emily Rauscher & Byeongdon Oh, 2021. "Going Places: Effects of Early U.S. Compulsory Schooling Laws on Internal Migration," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(2), pages 255-283, April.
    9. Heinesen, Eskil, 2018. "Admission to higher education programmes and student educational outcomes and earnings–Evidence from Denmark," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-19.
    10. Strazzeri, Maurizio, 2021. "Assessing the Role of Asylum Policies in Refugees' Labor Market Integration: The Case of Protection Statuses in the German Asylum System," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242395, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    11. Gaggero, Alessio & Gil, Joan & Jiménez-Rubio, Dolores & Zucchelli, Eugenio, 2022. "Does health information affect lifestyle behaviours? The impact of a diabetes diagnosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    12. Lochmann, Alexia & Rapoport, Hillel & Speciale, Biagio, 2019. "The effect of language training on immigrants’ economic integration: Empirical evidence from France," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 265-296.
    13. Canaan, Serena, 2020. "The long-run effects of reducing early school tracking," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    14. Matias D. Cattaneo & Rocío Titiunik, 2022. "Regression Discontinuity Designs," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 821-851, August.
    15. Paco Martorell & Damon Clark, 2010. "The Signaling Value of a High School Diploma," Working Papers 1248, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    16. Onda, Masayuki & Seyler, Edward, 2020. "English learners reclassification and academic achievement: Evidence from Minnesota," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Guido Imbens & Stefan Wager, 2019. "Optimized Regression Discontinuity Designs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(2), pages 264-278, May.
    18. Pietro Santoleri & Andrea Mina & Alberto Di Minin & Irene Martelli, 2020. "The causal effects of R&D grants: evidence from a regression discontinuity," LEM Papers Series 2020/18, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    19. Vergolini, Loris & Zanini, Nadir, 2015. "Away, but not too far from home. The effects of financial aid on university enrolment decisions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 91-109.
    20. Gaggero, A. & Gil, J. & Jiménez-Rubio, D. & Zucchelli, E., 2021. "Health information and lifestyle behaviours: the impact of a diabetes diagnosis," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 21/02, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:reihed:v:64:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s11162-022-09710-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.