What is Return On Athletics™
The goal of Return On Athletics™ (ROA) is to better align athletics with the higher education business model. While anecdotes can convey the importance of athletics to institutional culture, there is a need for data that can quantify the benefits of NAIA membership to an institution.
Because ROA™ is a comprehensive effort, it will be implemented in three phases. The first phase is underway and uses existing data and analytics to better articulate the NAIA’s value to both current and prospective members, including comparison data with NCAA DII and DIII schools. Phase one will establish the current baseline value upon which the NAIA can build.
Phase two will build upon current NAIA strengths. How can athletics better increase enrollment? Can our rules further reduce the administrative burden on schools? How can we create more recruitment advantages? These are just a few of the issues that will be examined.
Finally, phase three will focus on innovation with the ultimate goal of creating new value opportunities to better attract and maintain members. In turn, this will strengthen our organization.
ROA™ is ambitious and will take time. Fortunately, we are starting in a great position. The NAIA already offers advantages that can’t be found in other associations and through ROA™, we’ll be able to quantify those benefits for our member institutions.
Continue to check the blog for more detailed updates. Next up – how athletics can affect enrollment.