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Research Note: Estimates of College Football Player Rents

Author

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  • Robert Brown

    (California State University, San Marcos, CA, rbrown@csusm.edu)

Abstract

Past research indicates that top college football players generate over $500,000 annually in team revenues, well beyond the effective compensation of an athletic scholarship. This article supplements past empirical literature using the most comprehensive, detailed financial information yet compiled on college athletics. An alternative method estimates an equations system to account for the endogeneity of both a team’s premium players and its overall performance. Estimates show that the marginal revenue product of a premium college football player—one drafted into the National Football League (NFL)—exceeds $1 million in 2004-2005 football revenues, over 30% higher than in previous estimates from 1988-1989 revenues.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Brown, 2011. "Research Note: Estimates of College Football Player Rents," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 12(2), pages 200-212, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:12:y:2011:i:2:p:200-212
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002510378333
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brown, Robert W, 1993. "An Estimate of the Rent Generated by a Premium College Football Player," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 31(4), pages 671-684, October.
    2. Andrew Zimbalist, 2010. "Reflections on Salary Shares and Salary Caps," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 11(1), pages 17-28, February.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Matthew Philip Makofske, 2018. "Are you hiring Johnny Football or Johnny Doe? Uncertain labour quality and the measurement of monopsony in college football," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(22), pages 2415-2430, May.
    2. Robert W. Brown & R. Todd Jewell, 2013. "Revenues and subsidies in collegiate sports: an analysis of NCAA Division I women’s basketball," Chapters, in: Eva Marikova Leeds & Michael A. Leeds (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Women in Sports, chapter 10, pages 213-232, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Peter K. Hunsberger & Seth R. Gitter, 2015. "What is a Blue Chip Recruit Worth? Estimating the Marginal Revenue Product of College Football Quarterbacks," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 16(6), pages 664-690, August.
    4. Watanabe, Nicholas M. & Yan, Grace & Soebbing, Brian P., 2019. "Market disruption as a regime for athlete activism: An economic analysis of college football player protests," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 600-612.
    5. Roger D. Blair & Wenche Wang, 2018. "The NCAA Cartel and Antitrust Policy," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 52(2), pages 351-368, March.
    6. Molly Ott & Barry Bozeman & Gabel Taggart, 2018. "Risks and Rewards of College Football: Who Would Accept a Scholarship Knowing the Chances of Physical Harm?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 99(3), pages 915-932, September.
    7. Richard Borghesi, 2018. "The Financial and Competitive Value of NCAA Basketball Recruits," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(1), pages 31-49, January.
    8. Brian Mills & Jason Winfree, 2018. "Athlete Pay and Competitive Balance in College Athletics," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 52(2), pages 211-229, March.
    9. Richard Borghesi, 2017. "Pay for play: the financial value of NCAA football players," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(46), pages 4657-4667, October.
    10. Craig Garthwaite & Jordan Keener & Matthew Notowidigdo & Nicole Ozminkowski, 2020. "Who Profits from Amateurism? Rent-Sharing in Modern College Sports," Working Papers 2020-117, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    11. Robert Brown, 2012. "Do NFL Player Earnings Compensate for Monopsony Exploitation in College?," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 13(4), pages 393-405, August.
    12. Craig Garthwaite & Jordan Keener & Matthew J. Notowidigdo & Nicole F. Ozminkowski, 2020. "Who Profits From Amateurism? Rent-Sharing in Modern College Sports," NBER Working Papers 27734, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. E. Woodrow Eckard, 2019. "Does the NCAA’s Collegiate Model Promote Competitive Balance? Power-5 Conference Football Versus the NFL," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(5), pages 654-670, June.
    14. Erin Lane & Juan Nagel & Janet S. Netz, 2014. "Alternative Approaches to Measuring MRP," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 15(3), pages 237-262, June.
    15. 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.

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