The Role of Football Profits in Meeting Title IX Gender Equity Regulations and Policy.

A conceptual model was developed to measure the influence of football profits on meeting Title IX gender equity requirements in athletic aid and participation at NCAA Division I-A institutions. Teams in Division I-A of the NCAA play intercollegiate sports at the highest level of competition. Football profits arc the largest source of fan based revenue at most Division I-A institutions. An empirical version of the model including football profit, other men's sports profits, conference membership. undergraduate enrollment, endowment, and the existence of state funding was estimated for 93 institutions. These factors. except undergraduate enrollment and other men's sports profits, significantly influenced meeting the athletic aid standard. Endowment, state funding, and conference membership significantly influenced compliance with the participation standard. In addition to the quantitative analysis, responses to an original survey of Division I conference commissioners added a qualitative dimension to this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]