Bowls versus playoffs: The impact on football player graduation rates in the national collegiate athletic association

Abstract

This paper investigates the determinants of football player graduation rates at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-A and I-AA levels [National Collegiate Athletic Association (1992) 1991–1992 NCAA Division I Graduation-Rates Report. Overland Park, KS: NCAA]. Particularly attention is paid to the relationship between measures of football team success and football player graduation rates. The principal finding is that, at the major college football level (NCAA Division I-A), success on the football field appears to be a substitute for success in the classroom. In contrast, at the NCAA Division I-AA level, there appears to be no relationship between football success and academic success. We believe these results have two public policy implications. First, they confirm the desirability of the NCAA's current reforms of student-athlete eligibility standards. Second, they indicate the desirability of moving from a bowl system to a playoff system at the major college football level.