The institution is facing a $40+ million deficit. It isn’t clear if athletic pro...

joe5150 · on Aug 12, 2023

WVU is about to become the world's first vocational school with a D-1 football program.

bsder · on Aug 12, 2023

I suspect they could put a big dent in their $40 million deficit simply by wiping out their football program.

The head coach gets paid $4 million per year. Extrapolate that to the lackeys and you could probably wipe out almost half of the deficit.

dustincoates · on Aug 12, 2023

Athletics is revenue positive for WVU:

> WVU produced $102,684,423 in revenue, which was a decrease from the $110.5 million produced by the department the previous year. However, it was still more than enough to cover the program’s $91,807,281 in expenses.

https://wvmetronews.com/2019/08/12/west-virginia-ranked-37th...

Football isn't broken out here, but it generally subsidizes other sports, so if you wipe out the football program, you aren't going to help the deficit.

KeplerBoy · on Aug 12, 2023

Aren't most of these athletic programs actually earning money for the universities? At least if they are well-run, which probably isn't the case here.

maxerickson · on Aug 12, 2023

It's bifurcated. The programs in conferences with big TV deals earn money, smaller schools are probably spending money on athletics.

matwood · on Aug 12, 2023

Most of the men's football and basketball programs revenue covers the cost for all the other sports and typically have some leftover for the university.