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The Financial and Competitive Value of NCAA Basketball Recruits

Journal of Sports Economics

Published online on

Abstract

In this article, we examine the value of high school basketball prospects, and results indicate that each five-star (four-star) recruit generates US$625,000 (US$178,000) in marginal revenue for his university. Additionally, university academic donations are strongly related to basketball performance and five-star recruits bring in an additional US$5,800,000 in funding on average as a result of their contribution to team success. Calculations indicate that if five-star players were to be fairly compensated, their earnings would be approximately US$613,000. Four-star prospects would be paid roughly US$166,000, three-star recruits US$91,000, and two- and one-star players US$50,000.