National accolades and positive media attention are frequently lavished upon successful collegiate sports programs. Correspondingly, studies have demonstrated that universities often benefit from the achievements of their athletic teams by increasing the schools’ application numbers, student quality, and alumni donations. This study demonstrates that the opposite effect occurs when a university’s sports team is accused of engaging in impropriety. Our findings suggest that the negative attention given to the National Collegiate Athletic Association postseason tournament ban of a men’s basketball program could serve as a signal to prospective students regarding the quality of the institution. This perception ultimately leads to a decrease in the infracting university’s enrollment the year before the ban that then rebounds the year after the ban. However, the ban reduces the percentage of high-achieving students who choose to attend the university after the ban has been implemented.

Collegiate sports programs have been characterized as the front porch of a university, serving to publicize the institution and draw students to the door. Previous research in this area has indicated a positive correlation between athletic success and the quantity and quality of students attending the university. Conversely, we seek to analyze if athletic malfeasance, as measured by NCAA probations of men's basketball programs, negatively affects either the quantity or quality of students at a university. Our findings suggest that while basketball probations do not change the overall quantity of applications nor enrollment at a university, there is a significant adverse impact on the quality of freshman enrolling at the university as measured by Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Our finding suggest that athletics do indeed serve as a front porch to a university and that athletic sanctions in men's basketball have a detrimental effect on the average quality of students attending a university. . RUNNING TITLE: The Impact of NCAA Basketball Probations on Student Enrollment JEL CODES: I23, Z20, J24

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