IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/apl/wpaper/13-25.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Compensation Discrimination in the NFL: An Analysis of Career Earnings

Author

Listed:
  • Johnny Ducking
  • Peter A. Groothuis
  • James Richard Hill

Abstract

Using NFL data from 2000 to 2008, we test for compensation discrimination on career earnings in the NFL. We use both the traditional dummy variable technique applied to Ordinary Least Squares regression as well as quantile regression analysis to measures the effect of race on earnings. We focus on six positional groups: defensive backs, defensive linemen, linebackers, running backs, tight ends and wide receivers. Our analysis finds that a player’s performance determines career earnings and not their race. Perhaps, using a Becker-like argument, market competition for the best players in a competitive environment to achieve a winning team has overcome personal prejudice. Key Words: economics

Suggested Citation

  • Johnny Ducking & Peter A. Groothuis & James Richard Hill, 2013. "Compensation Discrimination in the NFL: An Analysis of Career Earnings," Working Papers 13-25, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
  • Handle: RePEc:apl:wpaper:13-25
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://econ.appstate.edu/RePEc/pdf/wp1325.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nancy J. Burnett & Lee J. Van Scyoc, 2013. "Compensation Discrimination for Wide Receivers: Applying Quantile Regression to the National Football League," Journal of Reviews on Global Economics, Lifescience Global, vol. 2, pages 433-441.
    2. Peter A. Groothuis & James Richard Hill, 2013. "Pay Discrimination, Exit Discrimination or Both? Another Look at an Old Issue Using NBA Data," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 14(2), pages 171-185, April.
    3. Peter A. Groothuis & J. Richard Hill, 2002. "Exit Discrimination in the NBA: A Duration Analysis of Career Length Using Flow and Stock Samples," Working Papers 02-11, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    4. Johnny Ducking & Peter Groothuis & James Hill, 2015. "Exit Discrimination in the NFL: A Duration Analysis of Career Length," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 285-299, September.
    5. Peter A. Groothuis & James Richard Hill, 2008. "Exit Discrimination in Major League Baseball: 1990–2004," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(2), pages 574-590, August.
    6. Lawrence M. Kahn, 2000. "The Sports Business as a Labor Market Laboratory," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 75-94, Summer.
    7. Johnny Ducking & Peter Groothuis & James Hill, 2015. "Exit Discrimination in the NFL: A Duration Analysis of Career Length," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 285-299, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Quinn A. W. Keefer & Thomas J. Kniesner, 2023. "“Injury risk, concussions, race, and pay in the NFL”," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 107-136, October.
    2. Craig A. Depken & Johnny Ducking & Peter A. Groothuis, 2017. "Career duration in the NHL: pushing and pulling on Europeans?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(59), pages 5923-5934, December.
    3. Ian Gregory-Smith & Alex Bryson & Rafael Gomez, 2023. "Discrimination in a Rank Order Contest: Evidence from the NFL Draft," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 215-231, September.
    4. Johnny Ducking & Peter A. Groothuis, 2023. "Positional Segregation and Career Length in Major League Baseball in the 1990s," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 149-159, September.
    5. Craig A. Depken II & Johnny Ducking & Peter A. Groothuis, 2015. "Career Duration in the NHL: Bias against Europeans?," Working Papers 15-09, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    6. Johnny Ducking & Peter A. Groothuis & James Richard Hill, 2017. "Compensation Discrimination: an Analysis of Linebackers, Defensive Linemen, and Defensive Backs in the National Football League," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 44(3), pages 251-260, December.
    7. 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.
    8. Johnny Ducking & Peter Groothuis & James Hill, 2015. "Exit Discrimination in the NFL: A Duration Analysis of Career Length," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 285-299, September.
    9. Salaga, Steven & Juravich, Matthew, 2020. "National Football League head coach race, performance, retention, and dismissal," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 978-991.
    10. Johnny Ducking & Peter Groothuis & James Hill, 2015. "Exit Discrimination in the NFL: A Duration Analysis of Career Length," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 285-299, September.

    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. Johnny Ducking & Peter Groothuis & James Hill, 2015. "Exit Discrimination in the NFL: A Duration Analysis of Career Length," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 285-299, September.
    2. Johnny Ducking & Peter A. Groothuis, 2023. "Positional Segregation and Career Length in Major League Baseball in the 1990s," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 149-159, September.
    3. Johnny Ducking & Peter A. Groothuis & James Richard Hill, 2014. "Minimum Pay Scale and Career Length in the NBA," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 617-635, October.
    4. Craig A. Depken II & Johnny Ducking & Peter A. Groothuis, 2015. "Career Duration in the NHL: Bias against Europeans?," Working Papers 15-09, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    5. Daniel LaFave & Randy Nelson & Michael Doherty, 2018. "Race and Retention in a Competitive Labor Market," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(3), pages 417-451, April.
    6. Salaga, Steven & Juravich, Matthew, 2020. "National Football League head coach race, performance, retention, and dismissal," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 978-991.
    7. Peter A. Groothuis & James Richard Hill, 2008. "Exit Discrimination in Major League Baseball: 1990–2004," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(2), pages 574-590, August.
    8. Johnny Ducking & Peter A. Groothuis & James Richard Hill, 2017. "Compensation Discrimination: an Analysis of Linebackers, Defensive Linemen, and Defensive Backs in the National Football League," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 44(3), pages 251-260, December.
    9. Quinn A. W. Keefer & Thomas J. Kniesner, 2023. "“Injury risk, concussions, race, and pay in the NFL”," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 107-136, October.
    10. 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.
    11. Christopher Jepsen, 2023. "Determinants of Career Exits and Career Breaks in Women's Professional Basketball," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(8), pages 1055-1075, December.
    12. Rodenberg Ryan & Kim Jun Woo, 2012. "Testing the On-Court Efficacy of the NBA's Age Eligibility Rule," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 1-23, June.
    13. Hackinger, Julian, 2019. "Ignoring millions of Euros: Transfer fees and sunk costs in professional football," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 75(PB).
    14. Bernd Frick & Gunnar Pietzner & Joachim Prinz, 2007. "Career Duration a Competitive Environment: The Labor Market for Soccer Players in Germany," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 33(3), pages 429-442, Summer.
    15. Peter A. Groothuis & James Richard Hill, 2009. "Correcting for Survival Effects in Cross Section Wage Equations Using NBA Data," Working Papers 09-19, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    16. Scott Tainsky & Brian M. Mills & Jason A. Winfree, 2015. "Further Examination of Potential Discrimination Among MLB Umpires," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 16(4), pages 353-374, May.
    17. Craig A. Depken & Johnny Ducking & Peter A. Groothuis, 2017. "Career duration in the NHL: pushing and pulling on Europeans?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(59), pages 5923-5934, December.
    18. Bernd Frick & Friedrich Scheel, 2016. "Fly Like an Eagle," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(8), pages 813-831, December.
    19. Peter A. Groothuis & James Richard Hill, 2015. "Exit Discrimination in the NBA. Is there a Bias against Foreigners?," Working Papers 15-10, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University, revised 2015.
    20. Peter A. Groothuis & James Richard Hill, 2018. "Career Duration in the NBA," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(6), pages 873-883, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    economics;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:apl:wpaper:13-25. 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: O. Ashton Morgan (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deappus.html .

    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.