Website layout is a challenging task, particularly at major research universities where many interests are vying for key real estate on the school’s home page. So where do you think the Athletics link is located on the home page for each of the PAC-12 universities? Is it located in the primary links or in a less conspicuous location? Is there a difference in the location between the schools with winning football programs and those with losing records? What is the name of the link to the athletics department?
The short study “Location of Athletic Link On PAC-12 Websites” shows there is a tendency for the PAC-12 schools with weaker football programs to place their Athletics link more prominently on their home page. Key findings from this analysis produced the following results:
- The Athletics link for 7 of the 12 schools is not located in the primary links. Five of these 7 schools had winning records. These 7 schools had a combined 49-38 record.
- The Athletics link for 5 of the 12 schools is located in the primary links. Three of these 5 schools had winning records. These 5 schools had a combined 32-32 record.
- Stanford and Oregon had the best records. Neither school had their Athletics link in the primary links.
It was also interesting to note how the schools referred to their athletic programs.
- Eight schools refer to their programs as Athletic Programs
- Athletics and Recreation (Arizona)
- Athletics (ASU, CU, OSU, UCLA, Utah, WSU)
- Cal Athletics (California)
- Four schools refer to their programs as Sports Programs
- Sports (Oregon, Stanford, USC)
- Husky Sports (Washington).
This brief study shows there is a difference in the location of the Athletics link on the home page. As well, schools refer to their programs in different ways (sports and athletics). It does not answer the following question, “Is the location of the Athletics link based on standard website layout principles or is it determined by the importance the university places on athletics relative to academics?”