DETERMINING A FAIR MARKET VALUE OF ALLOCATED REVENUE TO NCAA FBS ATHLETIC DEPARTMENTS

More than 85% of NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) athletic departments rely on some form of allocated revenue. However, there is no standard operating procedure that governs the allocation of this support. As a result, it can be difficult for administrators to compare each institution’s allocated revenue against others. This study seeks to identify factors that are predictive of the amount of allocated revenue to athletic departments, then utilize the most influential factors to create a model that estimates how much allocated revenue each athletic department should receive. Results demonstrate that variables representing enrollment, changes in conference affiliation, game attendance, graduation rates, and total university expenditures are the most statistically significant predictors of allocated revenue. Moving forward, in addition to providing empirical evidence of the efficacy of predictive modeling in intercollegiate athletics finance, the model assists both athletic and academic administrators in determining an optimal level of allocated revenue.Master of Art