Big-Time Pigskin Success: Is there an Advertising Effect?

Irvin Tucker, in a 2005 study, reexamined this issue by attempting to compare a school’s success in the modern era BCS system with the SAT scores of incoming freshmen applying to those schools. Tucker compared 78 colleges and universities around the United States by using a least squares regression method to compare and contrast their level of football success with their level of SAT scores. He concludes that there is a positive correlation and even goes so far as to make claims about how much a program’s football success can impact their academic future. Tucker, citing the data collected for the 78 institutions in his study, argues that 10% increase in a school’s winning percentage over a 5 year period will raise the average SAT scores of that school’s incoming freshmen by 14 points. Also, he claims that just one additional bowl appearance by that school’s football team in the same 5 year period will increase incoming average SAT scores by another 12 points.  
These findings are exciting to me because they establish an advertising effect with successful football programs and higher quality students. Tucker's research will be a very important resource for me in the future.

·      Tucker, Irvin B. (2005). “Big-Time Pigskin Success: Is There an Advertising Effect?”             Journal of Sports Economics 6(2): 222-229.