One More Reason To Win!

[Economics_Nerd82]

Intercollegiate athletic success & student interest

The effect of a winning football team on applications and donations to a university has been extensively studied in the literature. But sometimes there are exceptional circumstances which provide data to complement more elaborate statistical analyses. Rutgers' recent 10-2 season - a significant departure from past history - and an apparent commitment to continued success may provide one such anecdote.

Here are some pieces of evidence.

   Excitement about New Jersey's 50,000-student university became palpable after the Scarlet Knights' defeat of then-No. 3-ranked Louisville in November, McAnuff said. His office was flooded with requests for campus visits, prompting him to add 3,600 seats on the fall bus tours, on top of the 5,600 slots already planned. The university's admissions Web page also experienced a 33 percent jump in visitors over the previous fall semester.

   ...Applications for admission to Rutgers by first-year and transfer students for the fall 2007 semester increased from 28,983 to 30,429, and hundreds more are still pouring in, McAnuff said. That's on top of a similar increase last year, when the football team reversed a perennial losing record and went to a bowl game.

   ...Carol Herring, president of the Rutgers Foundation, said football frenzy likely factored into a 35 percent increase in overall giving to the university compared to the same period as last year.

On the same note, Phil Miller noted the impact of George Mason's run to the final four last year. I wonder, how many of the 300 to 400 additional freshman admits at GMU want to transfer to Rutgers?

http://thesportseconomist.com/labels/intercollegiate%20athletic%20success.htm

[Economics_Nerd82]

The Short Term Impact of Making the Final Four

Getting to the Final Four last year has, apparently, been good for the good folks at George Mason:

   (GMU President Alan) Merten said there were 300 to 400 more freshmen enrolled at George Mason this fall. He said he anticipated an increase but wasn't prepared for the number, forcing the university to house students in a hotel.

   ..."We won't know until December [at the end of the calendar year] the financial figure [of the impact of the Final Four]," Merten said. "But there's a buzz. The faculty really feels it, too."

   George Mason athletic director Tom O'Connor said merchandise sales are up, ticket sales are soaring and fund-raising is up, too.

   "When you win, everybody smiles more," O'Connor said.

   Early Wednesday, O'Connor noted that he was curious how many fans would turn out for that night's exhibition game against Division III Marymount (Va.). Well, the Patriots drew 3,679 fans (capacity in Patriot Center is 10,000) -- that's three times more than an exhibition a year ago and more than the team drew for seven home games last season. The Patriots had an estimated 6,000 for Midnight Madness on Oct. 13.

The ticket sales numbers and other athletic department what-nots seem reasonable, especially for a traditionally non-power school like GMU. I'm not an expert on the relationship between making making the Final Four and its short-term effect on academics, but it would be interesting to know how many of those "300 to 400" freshman saw making the Final Four as the marginal reason* for going to GMU.

*It would also be interesting to know how many incoming students at GMU chose that school because of the various GMU blogs that dot the landscape, like Marginal Revolution and Cafe Hayek.

http://thesportseconomist.com/2006/11/short-term-impact-of-making-final-four.htm

[smazza]

no kidding

[usfgrad84]

We are already the number one destiantion for students transferring fromanother school.  Could you imagine what it would be like if we really become a natioanlly know college?

[Guest]

This has been called the Flutie Effect...