High-Level Football and Appropriations to Universities: Are Sports-Crazed Representatives Responsive to NCAA Divisional Affiliation?

Does fielding a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) program help an institution of higher education obtain aid in the form of state appropriations? Two published studies have found some evidence of a positive correlation between having an FBS-level football program and the amount of appropriations received by public universities. This study looked to reexamine this relationship using the difference-in-differences estimation technique. Six institutions of higher education that transitioned from the Football Championship Subdivision to the FBS between 2000 and 2010 were the foci of this analysis. The findings suggest that relative to observationally similar institutions, moving to the FBS does positively correlate with state appropriations received.