College Football Performance and Athletic Department Revenues: The Power of Winning Tradition

Abstract

This paper investigates important relationships between college football performance and athletic department football revenues. The research draws from secondary data sources examining coaching experience, head coach salary, and recruiting performance as key antecedents to winning, and ultimately football revenues. The study also highlights the overriding influence of winning tradition on each stage of the proposed model. Further, the paper addresses the proposed performance-revenue model for both power 5 and non-power 5 football schools. The findings are different and revealing, and will help researchers and sport marketing professionals better understand the different football identities for these two football school categories. Ultimately, this paper highlights the importance of winning on athletic department football revenue generation for collegiate institutions across the country.