By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.
Intercollegiate amateur athletics in the US have historically prevented student-athletes from receiving
market wages, creating substantial economic rents that are primarily generated by men’s football and
basketball programs. Using financial data from college athletic departments, we estimate rent-sharing
elasticities to measure how rents flow to women’s sports and other men’s sports and lead to increased
spending on athletic facilities and coaches’ salaries. Using player-level data, we find that the rent-sharing
transfers spending away from students who are more likely to be Black and come from poor
neighborhoods towards students more likely to be White and come from higher-income neighborhoods.
