Is self-sufficiency for women's collegiate athletics a hoop dream?: willingness to pay for men's and women's basketball tickets

Thumbnail Image
Date
2011-05-26
Authors
Rosas, Juan
Herriges, Joseph
Orazem, Peter
Major Professor
Advisor
Committee Member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Authors
Person
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Organizational Unit
Journal Issue
Is Version Of
Versions
Series
Department
Economics
Abstract

Universities spend almost $2 billion subsidizing their collegiate sports programs. Even the most popular women's sport, basketball, fails to break even. An application of Becker's theory of customer discrimination is used to calculate the relative preference for men's basketball for both men and women. Median willingness to pay for men's basketball relative to women's basketball is 180% greater for men and 37% greater for women. Pricing each sport at its revenue maximizing price, revenues from women's basketball are only 43% of that for men, even at a school with historically strong demand for women's sports.

Comments
Description
Keywords
Citation
DOI
Source
Subject Categories
Copyright
Collections