It is important for university decision makers to carefully scrutinize empirical data concerning the impacts of college athletics on the university as a whole in formulating strategies for athletic programs. This paper reviews and extends existing statistical work on the effects of college athletics using basic concepts from economics as guideposts. Current evidence indicates that success, and at times merely participation, in college athletics provides several benefits including direct financial gain and such indirect benefits as increased university exposure and, in turn, increased financial contributions and increased student applications and enrollment. Evidence concerning negative exposure from events such as NCAA sanctions is sparse but suggests opposite effects of smaller magnitude.

This paper treats racial integration as an innovation in economic process in which economic entities find it advantageous to utilize potentially more productive inputs previously unavailable due to law, custom, or managerial discretion. Data on the racial integration of Major League Baseball and Atlantic Coast Conference basketball are employed to address this issue. The central question examined is which type of team integrated first—losers or winners? The results strongly support the idea that entrepreneurship trumps competitive rivalry; that is, winning teams led the process of racial integration.

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