Race and compensation in professional football

Abstract

Although there have been numerous studies on the effect of race on the compensation of National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball players, there have been only three prior studies that investigated the effect of race on the compensation of National Football League (NFL) players. Two found no evidence of racial discrimination in NFL player compensation, while one found that, at most, whites earn on average 4% more than African-Americans. Using salary data for 938 NFL players from the 1996 season and player and market characteristic data from the 1995 season, a log-linear wage equation was estimated, and a Chow Test was performed. The results indicate that white players earned 10% less than African-American players. Other important factors affecting an NFL player's salary were experience, position, percentage of games started, and the draft status of the player. These results indicate that reverse wage discrimination based on race may exist in the NFL.