Original Article Criminal Records and the Labor Market for Professional Athletes: The Case of the National Football League

We observe all 1,273 players drafted into the National Football League between 2005 and 2009 to determine the effects of character concerns on draft status and performance in the National Football League. Prospects that have a history of formal criminal charges or are suspended for team or university violations fall between 16and 22 spots in the draft. The impacts of character concerns on performance depend on the nature of the issue. Players who have a history of suspension (non-criminal related) perform worse than other players but having an encounter with law enforcement does not negatively predict performance. Keywords criminal record, national football league, draft, performance Social scientists are becoming increasingly concerned with studying the effects of criminal history on labor market and other economic outcomes. This article focuses on the particular labor market for professional football players and asks whether players are penalized for having records of criminal behavior or other types of char-acter concerns. We analyze the National Football League (NFL)’s annual draft t