The Dynamic Advertising Effect of Collegiate Athletics

Abstract

I measure the spillover effect of intercollegiate athletics on the quantity and quality of applicants to institutions of higher education in the United States, popularly known as the "Flutie Effect." I treat athletic success as a stock of goodwill that decays over time, similar to that of advertising. A major challenge is that privacy laws prevent us from observing information about the applicant pool. I overcome this challenge by using order statistic distribution to infer applicant quality from information on enrolled students. Using a flexible random coefficients aggregate discrete choice model-which accommodates heterogeneity in preferences for school quality and athletic success-and an extensive set of school fixed effects to control for unobserved quality in athletics and academics, I estimate the impact of athletic success on applicant quality and quantity. Overall, athletic success has a significant long-term goodwill effect on future applications and quality. However, students with lower than average SAT scores tend to have a stronger preference for athletic success, while students with higher SAT scores have a greater preference for academic quality. Furthermore, the decay rate of athletics goodwill is significant only for students with lower SAT scores, suggesting that the goodwill created by intercollegiate athletics resides more extensively with low-ability students than with their high-ability counterparts.But, surprisingly, athletic success impacts applications even among academically stronger students.2

Ethos in Sports: An Aristotelian Examination Focused on Source Credibility and the Modern Day Athlete

“…Intercollegiate athletics scholarship by Ott (2011) proposed that athletic departments could increase faculty perceptions of goodwill by supporting outreach endeavors that promoted more social interaction amongst faculty and athletic personnel. Similar intercollegiate sports scholarship by Chung (2013) that focused on undergraduate applications indicated that: "the carryover rate of athletic goodwill is evident only for students with low SAT scores, suggesting that students with low ability value the historical success of intercollegiate athletics over longer periods of time" (p. 696). Put another way, it seems that perceptions of goodwill for college athletic programs are more salient amongst lowering scoring SAT college applicants relative to higher scoring SAT college applicants (Chung, 2013).…”

“…Similar intercollegiate sports scholarship by Chung (2013) that focused on undergraduate applications indicated that: "the carryover rate of athletic goodwill is evident only for students with low SAT scores, suggesting that students with low ability value the historical success of intercollegiate athletics over longer periods of time" (p. 696). Put another way, it seems that perceptions of goodwill for college athletic programs are more salient amongst lowering scoring SAT college applicants relative to higher scoring SAT college applicants (Chung, 2013). When taken together, it appears that goodwill perceptions are a relatively fluid variable that is potentially impacted by peripheral constructs.…”

Okay, Seminoles, take over from here

“…USA Today analyzed that "whether it's called the 'Flutie factor' or 'mission-driven intercollegiate athletics,' the effect of having a winning sports team is showing up at admissions offices nationwide" (Dodd, 1997). In fact, after Doug Flutie won the Heisman Trophy (college football's most valuable player award) in 1984, applications to the school reportedly went up about 30% (Chung, 2013). Although the number of applications declined a few years later, it was still much higher than the figure before Flutie.…”

Examining Hybrid-Gift Philanthropy in Division I Intercollegiate Athletics: A Mixed Methods Study

“…The Flutie effect refers to an ICA programs success positively impacting an increase in applications to a university(Chung, 2013). In 1984, Doug Flutie, then quarterback of the Boston College football team led a miraculous comeback win by a "Hail Mary" over the University of Miami on a Thanksgiving Day national televised game.…”

“…In 1984, Doug Flutie, then quarterback of the Boston College football team led a miraculous comeback win by a "Hail Mary" over the University of Miami on a Thanksgiving Day national televised game. Two years later Boston College had a 30% surge in applications; this phenomenon is often referred to as the "Flutie Effect"(Chung, 2013).…”