Divide and conquer: Does NCAA division membership or sector predict website popularity and spending?

ABSTRACT

NCAA athletic programs can drive revenues or debts in the millions of dollars (Smith, 2019). Filling gaps in the research, this study analyzes 250 NCAA websites across all three NCAA divisions (I, II, and III) and public and private sectors to explore the popularity of and expenditures on NCAA websites. Results suggest that public and Division I programs have much more popular websites and spend hundreds and thousands of dollars more on average on their website than peers. Moreover, programs with more scholarshipped athletes predict the popularity and expenditures of websites. Implications for NCAA finance, equity, and future research are addressed.

KEYWORDS:

• Higher education
• NCAA
• athletics
• marketing
• advertising
• Internet

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joshua Childs

Joshua Childs is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy. His research examines the role of partnerships and organizational structures to address complex educational issues.

Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor is an independent researcher interested in linguistics, technology, and higher education.

Guillermo Ortega

Guillermo Ortega is an assistant professor at Idaho State University. His research examines intercollegiate athletics, Latinx students, and organizational structures.

Jase Kugiya

Jase Kugiya is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy. His research focuses on institutionalized access and retention efforts for marginalized students.