Are Student-Athletes Exploited?

Previously circulated as “Athletes Greatly Benefit from Participation in Sports at the College and Secondary Level.” We acknowledge, with thanks, the guidance and encouragement of Greg Curtner, who, as a lawyer for the NCAA, introduced us to this subject and framed the importance of the question of whether student-athletes, especially at the well-known schools, are exploited or whether they benefit. We thank Jenna Bujalski, Alejandra Campos, Ron Laschever, Josh Sherman, Aniello Bianco, Daniel Stone, Fredrick Flyer, Soloman Polachek, and Lily Sadowsky for their research support and commentary. The authors worked on behalf of the NCAA in various litigation matters. Some of the research presented in this paper was also presented in those litigation matters and published in summary form in The Hill (March 2021). The NCAA has not provided financial support for this paper. Opinions and errors are solely those of the authors. We place extensive discussions of our data and supporting tables in an appendix. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

• data appendix

• July 20, 2021
• July 28, 2021