A wave of recent attention on college athletics, owing in large part to a recent judicial ruling that allows schools to pay athletes, has placed renewed focus on the benefits of athletic programs for individual student athletes. Beneath the headlines lies a fundamental question: Is there any value to participating in high school and college sports, especially for those many thousands of student-athletes who will never get paid or who will never benefit from NIL (name, image, and likeness): Refers to a student-athlete’s ability to profit from their name, image, and likeness—elements of their personal brand. This concept is rooted in the “right of publicity,” which gives individuals control over how their identity is used for commercial purposes. In July 2021, new rules and state laws began allowing college athletes to earn money through sponsorships, endorsements, social media, and other business ventures. endorsements, and do those benefits extend into post-college life?
Participation in scholastic athletics leads to college education with benefits for minorities and disadvantaged students; thus, scholastic athletics is a vehicle for social mobility, facilitating educational, social and economic opportunities.
While this question has long interested researchers, this paper presents the first comprehensive longitudinal analysis of the benefits of participation in athletics at both the high school and college level. The authors analyze two large nationally representative datasets: The National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS) and the Education Longitudinal Survey (ELS) to track the careers of student athletes as they progress through schooling and into the labor market. These studies control for a large array of personality, cognitive, and family background measure to control for selection bias. The authors find the following:
- Participation in high school athletics is associated with a higher probability of graduating from high school, a key milestone toward improved life outcomes.
- Participation in high school athletics is significantly associated with higher probabilities of attending college. High school students, hoping to receive a scholarship, likely invest more in their academic and athletic skills to meet eligibility requirements and gain admission to college; the commitment to academics also brings future rewards.
- Intercollegiate varsity athletes are as likely or more likely to earn at least a bachelor’s degree relative to otherwise comparable non-athletes. “One and done,” used to describe Division I basketball players who move to the NBA after one collegiate season, is an anecdote, not a valid characterization of college athletics, even for the Power Conferences. College varsity athletes are more likely to receive college scholarships that facilitate college completion in addition to health benefits and tutoring.
- There are no adverse academic or labor market outcomes for students participating in intercollegiate basketball and football in NCAA Division I or FBS schools.
- Participation in college intramural sports also yields benefits, with both longitudinal studies revealing higher graduation rates for male and female athletes.
- Participation in college athletics is associated with better starting wages for participants compared to observationally identical non-athletes. This holds for both college varsity athletes and college intramural athletes.
- Participation in scholastic athletics leads to college education with benefits for minorities and disadvantaged students; thus, scholastic athletics is a vehicle for social mobility, facilitating educational, social and economic opportunities. For example, high school varsity athletes of either sex from single-parent households are more likely to attend 4-year colleges compared to other high school non-athletes from single-parent households; both male and female high school varsity athletes below the poverty line are more likely to attend 4-year college; finally, black male high school varsity athletes are more likely to attend 4-year college compared to their non-athlete peers.
Bottom line: On average, participation in scholastic athletics—intercollegiate or intramural—benefits participants, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with no adverse impacts. The authors stress that data, not anecdotes, should drive the discussion of the benefits of athletic participation and its role in promoting social mobility.