A paper co-authored by a sports economist at the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics shows that NFL players who were arrested actually earned more than those who were not.

Dr. Brad Humphreys, an associate professor of Economics at WVU, presented a paper earlier this year analyzing NFL players who were arrested between 2000 and 2009. The working paper, written in June of this year, is titled “Does crime pay? The Effect of Off-field Behavior on Player Salaries in the National Football League.” It examines the salary differences between players in the high profile NFL who were arrested, as well as those who were not arrested.

Results show a correlation between those who were arrested and higher compensation. In fact, “Regression results suggest that players who were arrested earned about 10% to 14% more than similar players who were not arrested,” read the paper, co-authored by Dr. Robert Simmons of The Management School at Lancaster University, United Kingdom, and Dr. Brian Soebbing, an assistant professor in sport management at Louisiana State University.

Humphreys said the research is reflective of the current negative public sentiment about the NFL.

“The NFL’s core product involves some activities that would not be acceptable off the football field,” he said. “Successful football players take extreme risks and dish out punishment to their opponents, and earn higher salaries because of this behavior. Unfortunately, the characteristics that make a successful NFL player may be associated with poor decisions off the field. The results in this paper are consistent with the idea that the NFL values on-field behavior more highly than off-field behavior.”

In other words, this research on the relationship between arrests and earnings tell us that players in the NFL did not suffer diminished earnings as the result of their arrests. In fact, those who were arrested actually earned more.

“We find arrests in the observed years positively impact both a player’s base salary and cap value,” the study said. “It did not impact a player’s total compensation.”

Interest in the research has come about in the midst of the domestic violence case surrounding Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice.

Humphreys is available for comment to the media at brad.humphreys@mail.wvu.edu or 304.293.7871.

-WVU-

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CONTACT: Patrick Gregg, WVU College of Business and Economics
304.293.5131, Patrick.Gregg@mail.wvu.edu

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