NCAA Scholarship Limits and Competitive Balance in College Football

Here is some more bye-week homework. This journal article is home grown.

Update: I've been reminded of the need of permissions before reprinting articles such as this. As such I'll limit the content to the conclusions and references.





NCAA Scholarship Limits and Competitive Balance in College Football
Journal of Sports Economics - February 2003

DANIEL SUTTER - University of Oklahoma
STEPHEN WINKLER - The Oklahoma Publishing Company

CONCLUSIONS

Conventional wisdom holds that parity is greater in college football today than ever before and that scholarship limits have fostered today’s competitive balance. A variety of measures indicate that the stylized fact is false; indeed, several measures indicate that college football has been less balanced since the imposition of scholarship limits. Regression analysis of time series measures indicates that the relationship between scholarship limits and parity is complicated. Scholarship limits seem to have reduced within-year parity while increasing parity as measured with the AP Top 20. Only 4 out of 16 scholarship-limit coefficients were significantly consistent with greater parity, so again the conventional wisdom is without support. The effect of scholarship limits suggests they serve to limit resources spent on football. An examination of the NCAA vote reducing the scholarship limit to 85 finds that recent success on the field made schools more likely to vote for the lower limit, but success over the entire postwar period did not affect voting. These results support the interpretations that the limits were to protect incumbent football powers or perhaps to protect rents generated by amateur status; the interpretation that weaker schools voted to level the playing field is rejected.

Our results raise the question, Why do scholarship limits not produce greater parity? Three explanations seem possible: (a) Scholarship limits have not been enforced or have been evaded, (b) the current limit of 85 scholarships is too high for limits to weaken strong programs, or (c) limits negatively impact both strong and weak programs, leaving competitive balance unchanged. The NCAA can easily measure the number of scholarships awarded, and athletes with scholarships for other sports cannot play football, so lack of enforcement of the current limit seems inadequate. Our research does not allow us to discriminate between the other two explanations. Future research on this question might focus on the relative impact of nonscholarship, walk-on players. If traditional powers attract more and better walk ons than also-rans, this would suggest that marginally lower scholarship limits will not increase parity and may even entrench incumbents.


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Daniel Sutter earned his Ph.D. from George Mason University and is currently associate professor of economics at the University of Oklahoma. His research interests include sports economics, constitutional economics, the urban land assembly problem, the economics of the news media, and the economic impact of weather and natural hazards.

Stephen Winkler holds an MBA in finance from the University of Oklahoma. He is currently a financial analyst with the Oklahoma Publishing Company.

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Which journal is this from and when was this published?

Sorry, should have added... Journal of Sports Economics - February 2003

Do you have permission from the journal to reprint the article?

Actually, I don't... I don't know what I was thinking yesterday when I got on that kick. I'll trim the articles down to the conclusions and references...

I think football continues to be the hardest sport to get a national championship in. You have to not only win, but have to be perceived as the best in order to win. You can win all of your games but still not be champions. Of course, that has nothing to do with schollys :D

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I think football continues to be the hardest sport to get a national championship in. You have to not only win, but have to be perceived as the best in order to win.

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The fact that college football has so many teams is the only thing that makes it tough to win a national title. Other than that, why would it be tougher in any one sport than another?

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Originally Posted by Leroy Lizard

The fact that college football has so many teams is the only thing that makes it tough to win a national title. Other than that, why would it be tougher in any one sport than another?

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1. It takes many more good players than any other sport.
2. No Playoff system

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Originally Posted by tulsaoilerfan

1. It takes many more good players than any other sport.
2. No Playoff system

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I couldn't have said it any better.

If I could spek, you I would.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tulsaoilerfan

1. It takes many more good players than any other sport.
2. No Playoff system

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Ja, as well as the fact that it requires more resources to field a team. George Mason can make the Final Four, a few NCAA trips can put Gonzaga basketball on the map, a solid nine can bring Rice a national baseball championship... but we have yet to see in this BCS era a non-big conference team get championship consideration. When was the last time a non-BCS team got the championship? Was it 1984's BYU? (which, btw, should have been MINE MINE MINE! ... I mean... OURS OURS OURS!)

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Originally Posted by tulsaoilerfan

1. It takes many more good players than any other sport.
2. No Playoff system

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Those both affect your competition as much as they affect you, so they don't make championships any tougher to achieve.

The real reason football is the hardest sport to win a National Championship in is that football has no real National Championship.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Statalyzer

Those both affect your competition as much as they affect you, so they don't make championships any tougher to achieve

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Of course, a more competitive field would make championships tougher to achieve, so what you just said is a tad contradictory :D

The very best high school players are still going to the top programs, that's why the top programs stay at the top. Sure those top programs can't sign the huge numbers they once did, but they're still getting the pick of the litter.

Quote:

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1. It takes many more good players than any other sport.
2. No Playoff system

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But if it's true for your opponents, then it doesn't make it any harder on you. Every year, SOME team has to win the national title.

It's like saying that winning a national championship in one-handed golf is harder because you only get to use one hand. But if your opponents have the same handicap, it all evens out.

Quote:

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Of course, a more competitive field would make championships tougher to achieve

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For stronger teams it's harder. For weaker team's its easier.

If you have 32 teams in a field, then your chances are 1 in 32 if all teams are equal in strength. If the field is uneven, then your chances are easier if you are a great team and worse if you are a lousy team. That is true if you are playing football or badminton.

I hear all the time that "The Daytona 500 (or choose whichever race you wish) is a hard race to win." No more than any other race as long as one of the drivers must win.

Heh... here's another can of worms that someone ought to throw in the mix... what if there were racial quotas on the 85 scholarships given out?

Wonder what the Dept of Justice would think about that?

Damn you Title IX