Efficiency Analysis of Women's Collegiate Athletics

Abstract

Allegations of lack of institutional control, unethical conduct and out-of-control spending by university athletic departments have prompted the necessity to investigate the efficiency of collegiate sports programs. This investigation develops a novel analytical approach to measure the efficiency of university athletic departments. This study specifically focuses on three primary indicators of intercollegiate athletic success (total revenues generated, student-athlete graduation rate, and athletic performance) within the context of women’s athletics programs. The findings of this study suggest that certain women’s athletic programs are more financially efficient than others and provide potential solutions to increase the efficiency of athletic departments.