Research Project: Winter 2013

Ever since I wrote the article Competitive? about the first two-weeks of the 2013 NCAA football season I have been fascinated by how much revenue college football teams make. Some teams make a lot of money while others, often in the same conference, do not. Throughout the fall and winter of 2013-2014 I am going to look at the numbers for BCS a non-BCS teams and ask a series of questions:

Revenue questions:

- Do the larger revenue schools win the majority of the time? What is the percentage?

- Do the smaller revenue schools ever have a chance to beat larger revenue schools? What is the percentage?

- Why are certain schools more successful with lower revenue? Is there a limit to how successful they can be?

- Can a program such as Boise State ever grow to compete with the likes of Alabama or USC?

- Can a school such as North Dakota State ever become a BCS program?

College football questions:

- How important is the brand?

- Can BCS teams ever become semi-pro?

- How would colleges handle the transition if programs went from student-athlete centered to athlete centered that are semi-autonomous?

- What would happen if a semi-pro college football team went bankrupt?

- Now would the NCAA change to allow for semi-pro football and basketball teams?

- Does the NFL want to have a semi-pro feeder league? Might they be worried about Saturday competition?

These are just a few of the questions I have come up with so far; the list is not complete, it is not exhaustive. I have not done a literature review, I have not asked the leading researchers in the field any questions, I have not reviewed the top journals or books; I am curious to see where my interest in college football will lead me.

Concerning the numbers, I will be using the Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool provided by the US Department of Education to look at the 2012-2013 college football season (last year’s season) using the 2011-2012 revenue numbers. The numbers for the 2012-2013 season have not been published yet. An interesting quote on the frontpage of the website states “Please note that valid comparisons of athletics data are possible only with study and analysis of the conditions affecting each institution.” I agree with this statement to a point but for the most part this is a cop-out that I will address later.