WVU Among Most Profitable Athletic Departments in 2022

Some may equate struggling on the football field to led to an athletic department struggling to make money. That is not necessarily the case, and is definitely not the case for the WVU athletic department.

The West Virginia Mountaineers were in fact among the most profitable athletic departments in the country in 2022. Based on the numbers compiled by the College Basketball Report, WVU made $8.12 million throughout all of last year.

The most profitable college athletic departments in 2022💰Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/q5LibTjGDE

— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) June 16, 2023

Comparing West Virginia to the rest of the country, WVU finished as the 27th most profitable program overall. This was the case despite a disappointing 5-7 season for Neal Brown’s football team that failed to reach bowl eligibility, missing out on he financial benefits of a postseason appearance.

Of course, an athletic program is not just about football, even though football is usually the driving force. Both WVU’s men’s and women’s basketball teams made the 2023 NCAA Tournament thanks to work in regular seasons played mostly in 2022, the women’s soccer team won the Big 12 and other sports like volleyball, baseball, wrestling, gymnastics and track and field experienced levels of success.

So even though WVU is not where it once was as a whole on the field or court, the athletic department is still making money. This then asks the question of how much more revenue would be generated if the football team can get back to glory…

In other news, WVU also spent near the top on recruiting compared to other Big 12 schools.

WVU Football Near Top of Big 12 in Money Spent on Recruiting