Profit or loss? On the determinants of net income of United States college football programs

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to predict the determinants of net income of 101 US university football programs. Design/methodology/approach Guided by stakeholder theory, financial capacity model and resource dependency theory, the dependent variable was net income (indicated as profit or loss) and independent variables were measured as the number of women and men’s team sports, average home attendances, win–loss records, conference ranking, endowment funds and age of football programs. Statistical analysis was performed using Kendell tau and binary logistic regression (BLR). Findings Net income was positively and statistically associated with home attendance, win–loss record, conference rankings and endowment funds, but not number of women’s sports, age of football program and number of men’s sports teams. The BLR indicated that home attendance was the best predictor of net income. Research limitations/implications The research was delimited to 101 Football Bowl Subdivision football programs from public universities. Practical implications The findings indicate that home attendance and conference rankings had the highest association with net income, but the former was the best predictor of net income and not football tradition nor number of sports teams. Originality/value The study was pioneering in the predictive evaluation of the possible determinants of loss or profitability in college football programs.

Financial performance of the United Kingdom's national non-profit sport federations: a binary logistic regression approach

“…For instance, Sparvero and Kent (2014) evaluated the financial performance of 84 USA NNSFs from 2002 to 2010 with the assistance of expense ratio, working capital, operating margin, debt ratio, etc. Recently, other researchers also examined various US NNSFs, including USA hockey (Omondi-Ochieng, 2019), USA table tennis (Omondi-Ochieng, 2018a), USA triathlon (Omondi-Ochieng, 2018b) and USA bobsled and skeleton (Omondi-Ochieng, 2018c) federations, as well as US college football programs (Omondi-Ochieng, 2018d), concluding that the combined calculation of financial effectiveness (indicated by total assets and total revenues) and financial efficiency (designated by program service ratio and support service ratio) are key in determining financial performance, the focus of this study.…”